Warhammer: Chaosbane - Dwarfen Slayer Preview

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Spaceman
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PCGamesN takes a look at Warhammer: Chaosbane and in particular the Dwarfen Slayer.

A Slayer was chosen because, as game director Jean-Georges Levieux explains, they are the most iconic flavour of dwarf in Warhammer Fantasy. The badass orange-dyed mohawks you see them sporting are a mark of shame for breaking a promise - a sin so severe, to a Warhammer dwarf, that it borders on the metaphysical. What's a little less badass, at least from their perspective, is the permanent exile - and the custom that an oathbreaker can only regain their honour if they die in battle while trying to kill the biggest thing they can find. Some Slayers are so unsuccessful that they become Dragonslayers and even Daemonslayers before they're finally killed - embarrassing amateurs, when it comes to dying. So desperate are they to shuffle off their hairy coil that the only protection they'll allow themselves are tattoos.



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Thanks Farflame!

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You can say what you want about Blizzard's lack of innovation and creative boldness.

For my part, their primary strength was always in the execution and implementation of features.

While it should be a relatively trivial task to simply clone Diablo 3 - feature by feature - I really can't say I would envy anyone trying to emulate its level of polish and very nearly perfect moment-to-moment gameplay.

That's the kind of thing you don't simply clone.

It's hard to tell from the videos - but if that was their intention, I'm extremely sceptical they can match Diablo 3 in those ways.

Which is why I hope they've done more of their own thing - and added unique features to the gameplay.

I don't really want to spoil myself watching too much video footage - but from what I've seen, they haven't done that much in those ways.

But, as a fan of the genre and of Warhammer - I will naturally try it out regardless.
 
Well I'm looking forward to playing this game. This is also not the first ARPG game the developer has made. Just check out Steam for How to Survive & How to Survive 2.
 
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Both of those games were quite underwhelming. Especially compared to Blizzard-level quality.

This does look significantly better, though.
 
Just the creative wackiness of Games Workshop at work. Hard to believe they're still publishing White Dwarf.
 
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Yes well most developers don't have millions of dollars to spend or an online service like Battle.net. It's not about talent as Blizzard is nothing like it was in the past.

Also if going by recent news headlines the employees are unhappy, and a fraud charge against their parent company Activision is going right now. Sad to see this happening.

Anyway moving on I don't expect a game of Diablo caliber from a small developer. I personally blame the journalists who keep calling this game a diablo clone.
Just the creative wackiness of Games Workshop at work. Hard to believe they're still publishing White Dwarf.
Yep a lot of Warhammer games are getting made but a majority are of poor to average quality. They don't seem to care though as long as someone pays them.

The first two DoW games and their expansions are good. The Creative Assembly Total War versions are good if you TB Strategy games. The RPG side though is non existent.
 
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Yes well most developers don't have millions of dollars to spend or an online service like Battle.net. It's not about talent as Blizzard is nothing like it was in the past.

Also if going by recent news headlines the employees are unhappy, and a fraud charge against their parent company Activision is going right now. Sad to see this happening.

Anyway moving on I don't expect a game of Diablo caliber from a small developer. I personally blame the journalists who keep calling this game a diablo clone.

All I know is that Diablo 3 is, by far, the best current isometric loot-driven action RPG.

The amount of craftsmanship that went into creating that game is insane. If you don't think their artists and gameplay programmers are incredibly talented - then you have no idea what talent means.

With that said, I agree - Blizzard is nothing like it was - but that's a high-level issue. I haven't really enjoyed their overarching designs since WoW vanilla. But I still enjoy the execution of their games.

As for their employees - that's not my concern. I don't have the surplus of energy to pretend I know the inner workings of such a major company because I watched a few Youtube videos from people who don't understand the reality of the gaming industry and how the world actually works when you look beyond your own ignorance.

As for this game, definitely - I don't expect another Diablo 3 - which has been my entire point.
 
All I know is that Diablo 3 is, by far, the best current isometric loot-driven action RPG.

The amount of craftsmanship that went into creating that game is insane. If you don't think their artists and gameplay programmers are incredibly talented - then you have no idea what talent means.

With that said, I agree - Blizzard is nothing like it was - but that's a high-level issue. I haven't really enjoyed their overarching designs since WoW vanilla. But I still enjoy the execution of their games.

As for their employees - that's not my concern. I don't have the surplus of energy to pretend I know the inner workings of such a major company because I watched a few Youtube videos from people who don't understand the reality of the gaming industry and how the world actually works when you look beyond your own ignorance.

As for this game, definitely - I don't expect another Diablo 3 - which has been my entire point.

I could not disagree with that more. Diablo 4 is not a good game at all. It has nice graphics, pretty much it. Path of Exile and Grim Dawn are FAR superior ARPGs than Diablo 4. There are several ARPGs coming out as well with a great possibility of being far deeper and better than Diablo 4. It is better than when it was released, but it is still a completely soulless shallow borefest with shiny graphics.
 
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I could not disagree with that more. Diablo 4 is not a good game at all. It has nice graphics, pretty much it. Path of Exile and Grim Dawn are FAR superior ARPGs than Diablo 4. There are several ARPGs coming out as well with a great possibility of being far deeper and better than Diablo 4. It is better than when it was released, but it is still a completely soulless shallow borefest with shiny graphics.

Diablo 4? :)

Well, this sounds like one of those cases where I would have to agree to disagree.

To each his own, though.
 
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