Only a few games currently try to find a spot in the action-RPG (ARPG) genre. A lot of people would mention Diablo, and then others try their luck with contenders such as Path of Exile.
It’s not easy to build a game like that that truly lasts and is able to retain players. Even the latest part of Diablo, Diablo III hasn’t seen that much innovation since the ‘Reaper of Souls’ extension and the necromancer class that was introduced in 2017. Some gamers speculate about a new Diablo experience that is being built to provide an experience similar to what World of Warcraft is offering to the Warcraft franchise. Remember that one used to be an RTS game?
Be the inquisitor
There is, however, a new ARPG game in the making and we were fortunate enough to try out an alpha version of it (much appreciated, by the way!). It’s called Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr and as the title suggests, it’s part of the Warhammer 40,000 franchise which is widely known for its rather dark, grim and yet unique sci-fi setting in the distant future of mankind.
Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr is being developed by the Hungarian NeocoreGames Studio, who have previously also built the Van Helsing games. For this new title, they licensed lore and character design from Games Workshop, and in the game, you can play as an inquisitor, one of the most influential roles in the “Imperium of Man.” As such, your mission is to purge Xenos and the Chaos from many different locations such as planets and spaceships.
Character options and classes
The game is played from a bird’s eye view commonly, but even if you zoom in and move the camera, the game offers a lot of detail. Even the environment can be damaged in battle or destroyed entirely. When starting a new game, you can create your own inquisitor. There are three classes to choose from, and each has another three sub-categories. The crusader has a melee combat focus, the assassin could either be close-up killer with swords or take a sniper rifle for ranged combat, and the psyker has supernatural powers with a small sidearm.
Your class also defines your look. As expected, the crusader wears heavy armor and is male, the assassin is an agile female, the psker is more or less looking like an average person, but the equipped items can then change the appearance a bit. There is, however, no character editor but that is not unusual for ARPGs to stay fair. All customization beyond the classes and categories is done via skilling and equipping loot that you find.
Two different modes to play
Dubbed as “open world sandbox action-RPG” the game has two modes. One is a story-driven single-player campaign with the same content for all classes, and the other is the Inquisitorial Campaign. The latter allows for cooperative gameplay putting up to four players in a team and the option to join a clan of the inquisition.
While the story mode already looks lovely in the alpha build, with cinematics and voice acting included, it currently appears that the Inquisitorial Campaign will make or break the game from a player retention perspective. Unfortunately this open-world mode is not yet available in the alpha version, that can also be played by early access players, but from the press kits, it sounds really promising. It’s said to include the whole sector which gradually opens up for the players to freely roam there in their own ship.
It’s planned to have unique events happening and allowing a sandbox experience. They also want to include a customizable Inquisitorial Fortress which serves as your home and safe haven. We haven’t seen this campaign yet, but it does sound a lot like what veterans of the genre were missing from games such as Diablo III.
As per their official website, the game is going to be published for PC (via Steam), PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The currently communicated release date for the full game is May 11, 2018, for a price of $49.99. As mentioned above, if you’re on Steam and curious about the game you can purchase Early Access already today. I think this release can be enjoyed not only by fans of WH40k, which was introduced back in 1987 as a table-top game but by everybody else who enjoys dark fantasy and more-than-dystopian future sci-fi settings.
Further reading
We even once published a business-focused article that used the theme of the Inquisition in WH40k. If you’re curious how to be an inquisitor in the real world, you should read “Why Your Company Needs the Inquisition” right here on TechAcute.
YouTube: W40K: Inquisitor – Martyr | ARPG Gameplay Trailer
Photo credit: NeocoreGames Studio
Editorial notice: We played the game for about two hours in the alpha state on PC. It’s possible and likely that some aspects of the game will be different in the final release.
