What hits you first once you're in a game is the aesthetic. These aren’t your sparkly millennial vampires, these are the grisly, nasty and filthy vampires from gothic legend. While a multiplayer only deathmatch Twilight game would be awesome, the way Nosgoth draws heavily from the lore of the Legacy Of Kain franchise gives it a delightfully grotesque style and tons of atmosphere - difficult to say that about many online competitive games.
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| Stray for moment and this is what waits for you |
At the moment Nosgoth offers only a basic 4 vs 4 deathmatch scenario that pits a human team against a vampire one. In order to complete a full match positions are swapped after one round and you get to see how the other live (or mostly die in my case).
Thinking that it would be cool and easy to dominate the game as a vampire I quickly found that Nosgoth requires a bit more thought and intelligence than the average multiplayer game. The advantage you have as the undead is speed and mobility - one class out of the three allows you to fly like bat - a great perk considering the maps are large with numerous buildings to perch atop.
That speed and ability to climb up walls is tempered, a little, with a weaker attack and squishiness. Simply finding the human players and attacking them will yield you nothing but a short death unless you’re careful, pick off your prey, attack and then get the hell outta dodge before you’re riddled with bolts or arrows.
The three classes of Sentinel, Tyrant & Reavers are varied, each with their own traits and abilities. The Sentinel is a quick melee vampire that can scale walls and pounce on opponents to render them incapable for a few moments. The Tyrant is a big, tank-like character that can charge and send enemies flying and the Reaver has the ability to glide through the air, picking up players and dropping them to the floor.
These classes play differently to each other but also interface pretty well if you work together with your fellow bloodsuckers. I found most players were happy to go lone wolf when being the undead but as always with a multiplayer title like this the potential is there for a team of four to decimate the opposition if they really know their roles.
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| Stick together or die |
I was shown an example of this as I initially flailed around as a human player in round two. Remember how suicidal it was to wander off alone in Left 4 Dead? Same applies here. I stepped away from my buddies for just a moment and became dog meat for the vampires who will easily rip you a new one at the first time of asking. Lesson learnt and I soon changed tactics, sticking close to my three compatriots, maintaining a tight formation and fending off attacks from the skies. Even though there was no verbal communication between us we all instinctively stuck together, covered each other's backs and helped whenever one of us was pounced on - bodes well for the future of the game if players already figure out how to do this.
Classes on the human side are varied as well. The Alchemist has grenade-launcher weapons and an ability to throw down a wall of fire when she chooses. The Scout is essentially a sniper class with a big-ass bow that can be fired as a normal weapon or zoomed in for bigger damage. That class is couple with an ability to call in a barrage of arrows on your current location or a knife melee attack.
Finally there’s the Hunter with his rapid fire crossbow (explosive tips optional) to make up the trio. What I’ve learnt over the course of play is that you need a variety of these classes to succeed as a human. Entering a match without an Alchemist is tantamount to suicide as the Scout and Hunter don’t offer enough firepower to fend off a co-ordinated attack.
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| Handsome chaps |
As a result the two sides of Nosgoth’s multiplayer feel pretty different and I’d say there’s a few hours of play tied up getting know each of these classes before deciding on a favourite. Upgrades are available with both in-game currency and the dreaded microtransaction model. And yeah, if you’re willing to spend money you can build yourself a pretty tough vampire or human with buffs, XP boosters and new skills. Not totally game-breaking as only two skills and one trait can be slotted at a single time but the microtransaction model is what it is and that’s going to upset some people.
The other obvious issue is the use of the Legacy of Kain license. Nosgoth was initially going to be part of Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun until that single-player game was cancelled. So anyone hoping for a revival of that series is going to be disappointed. That said, Nosgoth shouldn’t be dismissed as it’s shaping up to a unique take on the free-to-play multiplayer model with a distinct atmosphere and good class variety. At the very least will be an entertaining way to kill a few hours dispatching the undead or sucking the warm, nutritious goodness of another's blood.
Most anticipated feature: Figuring out how to stay alive long enough to work as a team.
