Conquest Dark Hands-On Preview: Vampire Survivors + Cosmic Horror + Conan the Barbarian = YES

My archetypal ritual was ended by a ample antheral with 2 morningstars swinging astir him successful a circle. Think the hands of a timepiece — 1 short, 1 agelong — but spikier and much, overmuch much deadly, and arsenic inevitable arsenic time, astatine slightest to the novice. I was playing a Barbarian that run; I didn’t recognize what I was doing yet, oregon however to debar them. My dodges weren’t dodging. I’d done beauteous good up until that point, but helium chewed done my lives similar a canine with a bone, and past I was dead, my ritual incomplete. But I’d gotten somewhere, earned immoderate upgrades, had a amended thought of what I was doing. Time to effort again.

Conquest Dark is simply a unusual beast. It intelligibly owes a batch to Vampire Survivors, but its inspirations don’t discontinue there. It’s besides pulling from worldly similar Conan the Barbarian — your characters look similar they tin seat property a car but commencement with small much than a loincloth — and immoderate cosmic horror, arsenic a treat. There isn’t overmuch communicative successful Conquest Dark, but the existent setup is cool. After the accomplishment of thing called The Black Planet 237 years ago, humanity stands connected the brink of annihilation. Undead armies person laid discarded to the large quality kingdoms. The Cosmic Gods person fallen. The Primordial Ones person awoken from their agelong slumber. Only Kharathia, The City of Legends, inactive stands, 1 past anticipation for humanity. In a last, hopeless effort, radical of each stripes — heroes, criminals, devotees of aged gods, those seeking glory — implicit Dark Rituals to summon the undead hordes and fallen heroes to summation power, hoping to usage it to uncover the secrets of the Black Planet and reclaim what they can.

It’s a chill conceit, but Conquest Dark isn’t 1 for exposition. Most of this is delivered arsenic text, and it’s up to you to stitch things together. You spot it successful the small details. The named bosses, similar Lord Commander Urien, who appears extracurricular Kharathia. Who was helium before? A protector of the city, present turned against it successful undeath? What astir Witch Smeller Mzawi successful the Shifting Sands? How bash you odor witches, and what bash you bash if you drawback a whiff of one? What happened astatine The Chasm of Fallen Heroes? Who was S’hes, wherefore did she hunt Titans, and what specifically did she bash to person an bid of hunters named aft her? What is the Black Planet? Where did it travel from? I don’t cognize however funny successful answering these questions Conquest Dark is, but each clip I went to a caller place, saw what was there, oregon learned a small spot much from a description, I was intrigued.

Dark Rituals, Big Choices

In practice, Conquest Dark is beauteous simple: you spell to an country connected the representation to commencement a Dark Ritual. Once you’ve selected wherever you privation to be, it’s clip to fig retired who. You’ve got a trio of characters to prime from, and you tin reroll those options arsenic galore times arsenic you like. You lone person 1 contention (Human) and 2 classes (Hunter and Barbarian) from the jump, though you’ll rapidly get more. I won’t spoil the further races, but the caller classes similar the agile Thief, paladin-esque Oathkeeper, and the spellcaster-flavored Acolyte of Kuu, each bash precisely what they dependable like.

But let’s commencement from, well, the start. The Hunter is faster and much nimble and people inclined towards bows and ranged attacks, portion the Barbarian has much wellness and bleed resistance, and thrives up adjacent and idiosyncratic with melee weapons, but what mightiness beryllium much absorbing are the randomly generated proficiencies they get close from the jump. An other 5% captious deed damage, 2.5% bonus health, oregon 5% reduced bleed complaint whitethorn not look similar a large deal, but it tin specify who you privation your quality to be, and however you upgrade later. I peculiarly similar that you tin reroll your 3 starting choices arsenic overmuch arsenic you want, for free, oregon permission an country wholly astatine nary outgo if you determine this isn’t wherever you wanna be.

Once you’ve got your feline (or gal), the amusive begins. First, you prime an origin. Veteran of the War gives you Heavy Armor, Shields, and 25% Bonus Health, portion Hunter’s Apprentice adds Short Bow proficiency, Survival, and 0.5 Projectile Pierce. It’s important to enactment that you tin double-up here. If you’re playing arsenic a Hunter, you astir apt shouldn’t instrumentality Hunter’s Apprentice, for instance, due to the fact that you already person 2 of those proficiencies, but it would beryllium large for a Barbarian that wants to play the ranged game. If you play things, right, you tin fundamentally multi-class: Oathkeepers are already hard to kill, but it’s adjacent much hard erstwhile you instrumentality the Stargazer origin, which gives you the Acolyte of Kuu’s barrier. Once you’ve got an origin, the games begin. No substance who you pick, your quality starts with thing much than a loincloth and their fists. That doesn’t past long, though.

After you smack your archetypal undead backmost to the afterlife, you get your archetypal large choice: your weapon. Some of your options mightiness not look each that important. Take a Hunter’s opening choices. Shortbow versus longbow’s not truly that crucial, right? Wrong. Shortbows sprout faster, but bash little harm per changeable and person little range, portion longbows instrumentality a small much clip to fire, but deed harder and farther. Once you’re got your sidesplitting instrumentality of choice, things escalate. The archetypal fewer waves are small, conscionable truthful you person capable clip to get utilized to things. Like Vampire Survivors, you don’t really power overmuch successful Conquest Dark; conscionable wherever you determination and erstwhile you dodge. Attacking happens automatically. Instead, your absorption is astir wholly connected positioning. Where to be, erstwhile to dodge, keeping way of erstwhile abilities volition activate, and being successful a presumption to capitalize connected that large changeable oregon large swing.

I Ain’t Got Time to Bleed

As you level up, you’ll marque much choices. What to equip, what abilities to upgrade, erstwhile to re-roll a enactment you don’t similar oregon skip it wholly for much currency for re-rolls later. There’s a ton of physique assortment here. I gravitated to builds with immense captious deed harm and precocious crit accidental with the Hunter, but the Barbarian works good with AoE harm and by expanding the accidental for enemies to driblet health. Picking aboriginal and specializing seems to beryllium key.

Your existent goal, speech from putting unneurotic a physique that works, is staying live arsenic agelong arsenic you can. See, you get 10 lives connected each run. If you suffer one, you commencement bleeding. The much lives you lose, the much you bleed. The archetypal clip you die, you commencement losing 1% of your wellness each second. The 2nd time, that jumps to 2%. The 3rd clip makes it 3% and truthful on. There’s nary mode to halt bleeding erstwhile you start, but you tin trim it by speccing into wellness regeneration, reduced bleed rate, and however apt enemies are to driblet health. Surviving agelong capable to implicit a Ritual means staying live aft enemies screen each inch of the screen, and you commencement dying. The longer you tin stave it off, the better, but the quality betwixt a failed tally and a palmy 1 is however agelong you tin bent connected erstwhile things spell sideways and the bosses commencement showing up. Like you, they person a batch of lives, and they tin get beauteous nasty, swinging morningstars oregon not. They’re tough, but if it bleeds, you tin termination it. I’ve had the astir occurrence arsenic a Hunter, Oathkeeper, and the Acolyte of Kuu (I similar lasting acold distant from things and shooting them), but I respect however antithetic each people feels and however they forced maine to attack fights successful unsocial ways that played to their strengths.

Whether you win oregon neglect (and by the way, you dice regardless; adjacent if you succeed, an service of unkillable ghosts sweeps successful to ruin your day. Oops), you’re going to unlock rewards, and past it’s backmost to the representation to walk them to assistance aboriginal runs. Maybe that means heading to the Stygian Archive successful Kharathia, wherever you tin not lone spot everything you’ve unlocked, but besides upgrade idiosyncratic skills, limb sets, abilities, and truthful connected with the Soul Coins you get connected each run. Or possibly you’re disconnected to the Altar of Power to walk crystals for accrued damage, oregon the Altar of Toughness to instrumentality a chunk retired of that pesky bleed damage, oregon the Altar of Souls to marque definite you tin cod souls (experience) from farther away. And past there’s the Factions, similar the aforementioned Order of S’hes, which rewards you with buffs for each classes for slaying things arsenic a Hunter. And then there’s the Obelisk of the Moon, wherever you tin ramp up the trouble of performing Rituals for accrued rewards by offering up Shards of the Black Planet. Then it’s backmost to a Ritual. Live, die, upgrade, repeat.

Live, Die, Upgrade, Retry

Conquest Dark doesn’t halt and explicate however each of this works disconnected the bat, though determination is simply a elaborate crippled usher determination if you privation to bash immoderate airy speechmaking earlier you acceptable off. Mostly, you larn by doing, and I similar that. Put maine in, coach, I’m acceptable to play, triumph oregon lose. And erstwhile you commencement unlocking much stuff, the wheels commencement turning. ‘What tin I bash with this class? How bash I physique astir this thing? What if I tried taking this root with this class? What tin I do?” And erstwhile they start, they don’t truly stop.

This preview’s written, Lord Commander Urien (the dude with the morningstars) has been sent connected his way, and I’ve seen respective hours of Conquest Dark astatine this point. But I besides can’t halt reasoning astir it, either. What I mightiness effort next, however I mightiness upgrade definite things, what classes I privation to explore. The moment-to-moment gameplay present is remarkably simple. You conscionable determination and dodge (or usage dodge-based abilities that tin treble arsenic attacks), but there’s an elegance to it that I appreciate, and it kept maine coming backmost with caller ideas. Upgrades whitethorn beryllium what enactment you implicit the top, but the magic happens erstwhile you measurement into the arena, successful the moments betwixt beingness and death. You’re going to die; that’s a given. The question is however acold you tin get (and however galore horrors you tin vanquish) earlier you do.