Darkhaven promises a world that literally fights back, with emergent catastrophes that rewrite the map and make safe havens vanish. The team is attempting to fuse the low-level thrill of Diablo II with sandbox-style procedural systems more commonly associated with Minecraft, a combination they admit is fiendishly difficult to build.

  • Necropolis event spawns a Lich sarcophagus that emits a spreading "gloom" which converts terrain and populates alcoves with skeletal enemies.
  • That encroaching corruption can block fast-travel and eventually eliminate any safe spawn points, forcing players to adapt or flee.
  • Transferring characters spawns new worlds, but fresh maps may present other disasters such as volcanic eruptions, rising floodwaters teeming with strange aquatic horrors, or sudden ice ages.
  • Multiple apocalyptic effects can overlap, creating compounded threats and unpredictable play sessions rather than scripted set pieces.
  • Developers are deliberately leaning on procedural, blocky-sandbox mechanics to try to capture the pace and feel of classic action-RPGs — an ambition they describe as one of the toughest design problems they've faced.

Source: Rock Paper Shotgun

Sponsored