Following the massive success of Hades in 2020, we’ve seen plenty of video games try to observe in its mighty footsteps; even Supergiant has damaged from its custom of latest concepts for a sequel. Sworn, in the meantime, takes the essential ideas and construction of probably the greatest roguelike video games in recent times and lovingly adopts it to the fantasy realm of King Arthur’s Camelot, creating one thing that feels directly reassuringly acquainted and distinct sufficient to justify its existence. At Gamescom 2024, I sat right down to test it out with sport director Sam Leonard and artwork director Sean Evans of Windwalk Video games, and got here away able to play much more.
On a floor degree, Sworn has all the important thing examine marks you’d count on from a sport within the Hades mildew. There are 4 biomes it’s a must to progress by way of as you problem the corrupted King Arthur and his Knights of the Spherical Desk. Your character has a fundamental assault, a particular assault, a spell solid, and a dodge, and these are amplified with numerous skills bestowed upon you by the Fae Lords. But, except for how completely the world of Camelot suits this roguelike construction, what actually units Sworn aside is the sheer degree of depth on provide.
To start out with, Sworn offers you 4 completely different characters to select from: Vigilante, Rook, Spectre, and Monk. Every of them comes with 4 base weapons to select from and 4 distinct spells, supplying you with a reasonably dramatic variety of potential mixtures even earlier than you set out on the run and begin selecting up all these build-defining upgrades.
I go for the Spectre: amongst her weapons is a bolt-blasting Armillary Sphere and a large, sweeping Scythe, the latter of which instantly catches my eye. On the spell aspect, there are a number of decisions together with a beam assault and a short-ranged teleport that explodes as you journey, however I go for Spirit Guardians, which I can summon to drift round her, mechanically firing off assaults at any close by enemies. There’s a improbable quantity of selection right here, and every of the choices feels properly thought-out.
Each weapon will get its personal branching improve tree, and pleasingly every is formed to suit the weapon in query. As you unlock the assorted nodes, every providing incremental boosts to its potential, you’ll encounter two ‘main’ ones that supply a alternative between two stronger upgrades. For the Scythe, I can select whether or not I construct up souls over time or whether or not they’re earned as I assault enemies, after which decide how I spend them – my particular assault can both devour all of them to heal me proportionally to the quantity gathered, or deal bonus harm based mostly on my gathered souls, with the profit that they received’t be spent if the strike kills my goal.
As you head by way of the areas, you’ll encounter the assorted Fae Lords who will give you their blessings – throughout our demo, I rely eight Lords in whole, no less than to start out with. Every has their very own theme: King Oberon gives you fury bonuses and the flexibility to summon damaging whirlwinds; Banshee Cliona permits you to weaken foes or fireplace out further soul missiles as you assault; Frozen Witch Beira inflicts chills and freeze results. As a lover of crucial strikes for these huge harm numbers, I’m keen on the boons of Lugh, the Hand of Destiny. Every Fae Lord additionally has an identical companion you possibly can earn that can observe you into battle.
You’ll begin out within the forest, however the environments get more and more fascinating as you progress. The second zone, the Cornwall Township, is crammed with Skaven-style rat beasties and options sludge puddles that can limit your skill to sprint round safely. Past that lies the Deep Harbour, the place issues get extra eldritch and unsettling, with monster designs impressed by the Lovecraftian Cthulhu mythos.
Right here, Leonard factors out the staff’s experimentation with enemies within the unfavourable area, one thing I’m a selected fan of. In observe, this interprets to platforms separated by water that you could solely cross utilizing dashes or traversal expertise, and foes that stay in that water. It’s a design resolution that provides every zone a definite really feel – one thing that’s additional amplified within the ultimate space, the citadel of Camelot. Make it there and also you’ll discover that even the common enemies really feel extra like mini-bosses, every boasting a number of assault patterns to be careful for.
Very similar to Hades, it’s within the boss fights the place Sworn’s fight actually shines – I get to see a showdown towards Gawain, one among Arthur’s main Knights. The visible design of those is great, and there are some intelligent assaults which are designed to adapt when you’re taking part in in co-op, resembling a sequence of monitoring projectiles that can every lock onto separate gamers whenever you deal with him in a staff.
Between runs, there are much more methods to develop steadily stronger together with the aforementioned weapon tweaking. There are 5 additional timber you possibly can pursue – Life, Conflict, Devotion, Treasure, and Wealth – every offering everlasting upgrades to every little thing out of your beginning stats to the possibility that you just’ll encounter rarer boons.
As a lot as Sworn could be very very like Hades, to the purpose it felt instantly acquainted in my arms from the second I began, I can’t deny that, between the setting, the flexibility to play in co-op with as much as three further associates, and the sheer quantity of depth and selection on provide, I’m somewhat excited to play it. There’s clearly been plenty of cautious thought and love put into methods to make each facet tick, and as somebody craving a brand new motion roguelike Sworn already has me hooked – I stored taking part in far past my unique appointment time, and would have stayed even longer if I didn’t produce other bookings to get to.
Sworn is ready to launch in 2024. In case you’re tempted to test it out for your self, you possibly can wishlist it on Steam to obtain a notification when it arrives. Alternatively, have a look by way of extra of the very best fantasy video games in 2024, together with the very best motion video games on PC proper now.