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Bethesda Unveils New Co-op Dungeon Crawler 218

Bethesda Softworks took advantage of the recent Game Developers Conference to take the wraps off a new game called Hunted: The Demon's Forge that they're partnering with development studio inXile to create. It's planned for the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3, though no release window has been set. It's a third-person action game with a swords & sorcery setting, and it features two heroes as they fight their way through monster-filled dungeons. The game is designed such that two users can play together online (no split-screen), each controlling one of the heroes. ShackNews summed it up thus: "From what I saw, Hunted rolled up ideas from a number of different games to create its modern reinterpretation of the dungeon crawl. There was the raw action appeal of wading through waves of goblins, spiders, and related denizens. The skill system and weapon upgrades bring in the character development side from a role playing game. And the co-op design with its warrior and archer dynamic introduces the reward of playing together like an MMO."
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Bethesda Unveils New Co-op Dungeon Crawler

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  • by dancingmad ( 128588 ) on Monday March 15, 2010 @05:48PM (#31489054)

    I read some of the previews of this game and I am cautiously optimistic but a couple of worries:

    1. "the raw action appeal of wading through waves of goblins, spiders, and related denizens" sounds an awful lot like Dynasty Warriors/Musou series and while I understand some people are into that, and that's totally fine, I find the games terribly boring. I could be reading too much into the phrasing here, but it's hard to pinpoint what this game is trying to do exactly.

    2. To me, the current gold standard for a dungeon crawl is Demon's Souls. How are they going to top DS's brutality and innovate features?

    • by Chris Burke ( 6130 ) on Monday March 15, 2010 @06:10PM (#31489298) Homepage

      How are they going to top DS's brutality

      Easy!

      bloodSpurtAmount *= 10;

      and innovate features?

      Uh...

      bloodSpurtAmount *= 20;

    • Are you kidding? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 15, 2010 @06:11PM (#31489310)

      2. To me, the current gold standard for a dungeon crawl is Demon's Souls.

      I'd say that the current gold standard for a dungeon crawl is Diablo II. Nothing else released in the past 10 years has even come close.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • by aXis100 ( 690904 )

          I've been playing Sacred, Sacred Underworld and Sacred II recently with a friend as online coop. Definitely worth playing, some things have better depth than Diablo II, other things worse. Diablo II runes were better.

          They are massively big and long games, the click and bash gets old after a while though and doesnt help with RSI. That's no different to Diablo II though.

        • I played all Diablo and Sacred episodes. The one thing that Diablo II had and Sacred lacked was online games with the character stored on the server and gameplay running on the server. People figured out how to predict gambled items and such, but apart from that, provided that you played on closed battle.net, Diablo II was cheat-free back in the day. Sacred on the other hand was so buggy that Sacred Plus was released for free, and there were all kinds of cheats based on manipulating the game state in memory

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by nschubach ( 922175 )

      2. To me, the current gold standard for a dungeon crawl is Demon's Souls. How are they going to top DS's brutality and innovate features?

      To each his own. I actually bought two copies of Demon's Souls because I imported the wrong language at first... and I figured it would be more fun if I could understand what was going on... I didn't. Replaying the same level over and over again to complete it isn't what I'd label fun. Also, logging in to play with a friend and having some ass hole join your game to kill you because he needs the black "karma" isn't fun.

      • To each his own. I actually bought two copies of Demon's Souls because I imported the wrong language at first... and I figured it would be more fun if I could understand what was going on...

        Homer: Hey, how come you never play your guitar any more?

        Bart: I'll tell ya the truth, Dad. I wasn't good at it right away, so I quit. I hope you're not mad.

        Homer: [sweetly] Son, come here! Heh heh heh... [Bart sits on Homer's knee] Of course I'm not mad. If something's hard to do, then it's not worth doing! You just stick that guitar in the closet next to your short-wave radio, your karate outfit and your unicycle, and we'll go insid

    • I'm guessing it'll be a lot like Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance (and the sequel.) Just based on the blurbs I've read.

    • by santiago ( 42242 )

      How are they going to top DS's brutality and innovate features?

      Maybe by making it less difficult than smashing down a brick wall with your forehead? That way, us filthy casuals with lives that keep us from enjoying the subtle nuances of replaying game sections ad nauseam can enjoy it

  • The game is designed such that two users can play together online (no split-screen), each controlling one of the heroes.

    Wonderful! I like nothing better than to play RPGs that are going to stop working in 5 years!

    The problem with all these online console games is servers are going to be turned off far sooner than with PC equivalents (chances are, servers for WoW are going to be up in 2020 and beyond) making the game almost unplayable. Even with PC games, you can host your own server, you can't do that really with console games.

    I don't mind paying a -bit- of money for games that are going to go away in 5 years, for

    • Did you miss the part where it said PC?

    • do you really play after 5 years?
      • Re:How many games (Score:4, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 15, 2010 @06:31PM (#31489472)

        Diablo II, Morrowind, Final Fantasy VI, Half Life 2... I could keep going, but I think you get the idea.

        Maybe I'm just sentimental, but I like to break out my old favorites every few years.

        • Re:How many games (Score:4, Insightful)

          by pseudofengshui ( 1432581 ) on Monday March 15, 2010 @06:34PM (#31489530)
          Deux Ex, Starcraft, System Shock 2, Half-Life 1...
          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            Homeworld, TotalA, Carmegedon 2, Counter Strike... etc
            • by mrsurb ( 1484303 )
              Simcity 3000, Civilization 4, Tetris :)
              • CIV is only 4.5 years old though. It would be on my list as well, but Civ 5 is scheduled to come out right around CIV's 5th birthday, and knowing me I will probably switch to it then, as I have with every prior Civ title... :)

                • by mrsurb ( 1484303 )
                  Only 4.5 years. Seems like a lot longer! But just be glad that it wasn't DRMmed to the point where... whoops, we're shutting the servers down after five years, but look, you can buy Civilization 5 now! By contrast, Firaxis did a good thing by removing the CD-check from the final patch of Civ 4.
                • I just broke out Unreal. 10 years old and still runs great!
          • Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • The Loki Linux port of Heroes of Might and Magic III to pick my most recent indulgence. Which is usually followed by playing Loki port of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, the most appropriately acronymed video game name ever. :)

          Sure sentimentality is a big part of it, but the sign of a great game is the ability to pull it out after many years, already knowing everything in it, and having a fun time. Nostalgia works best when not confronted with the reality that your hazy, rozy memory thinks of. The best examp

      • by Hatta ( 162192 )

        Only the good ones. I'm playing through Ocarina of Time right now. Still brilliant.

  • So... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Megane ( 129182 ) on Monday March 15, 2010 @05:54PM (#31489116)
    Like Gauntlet, only with RPG stats and more power-ups?
    • Re:So... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Chris Burke ( 6130 ) on Monday March 15, 2010 @09:58PM (#31491392) Homepage

      Like Gauntlet, only with RPG stats and more power-ups?

      Holy shit, yes!

      I've been trying to figure out what it was that Diablo brought to the table as far as genre is concerned over roguelikes. What else was it drawing influence from?

      Then you come along and say what should have been obvious. Diablo = Rogue + Gauntlet. Randomly generated levels in an RPG based around leveling up and equipping your character, combined with a real-time button masher throwing yourself against an endless horde of largely identical enemies. And thus was the "Diablo clone" genre born.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 15, 2010 @05:55PM (#31489128)

    The game is designed such that two users can play together online (no split-screen)

    Well why the fuck not? Online is great and all but I become increasingly annoyed by the fact that I can play with my buddy who is 300+ miles away but the instant he comes over to visit we can't play without doing some wacky setup with extra TV's and consoles. Seriously is it that hard? I've dealt with splitscreen multiplayer since the NES so why is it so hard to find now?

    • by hvm2hvm ( 1208954 ) on Monday March 15, 2010 @06:11PM (#31489312) Homepage
      because then you would have to buy only one game you silly man
      • Huh? Why'd I have to buy one at all? Got no DVD burner?

        Oh! You mean ... erh, ok, never mind, I wasn't here...

      • Link characters to Games for Windows / Xbox Live accounts. Sign in to retrieve characters, seeing as a lot of it is online anyway this makes sense.

        BAM. Two game sales, and a simple and reasonable method to include split screen.
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Blakey Rat ( 99501 )

      You're making assumptions.

      You can play Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance with two players without split-screen. It just moves the camera to keep both of them in view.

      Nowhere does it say, "there's no split screen, SO THEREFORE YOU NEED TO SHELL-OUT FOR A SECOND CONSOLE YOU SUCKER!! SUCKER!!!!!" which seems to be what you're reading there.

    • The obvious answer, as someone else pointed out, is that split screen would be more demanding on the machine and more difficult to code. What's too bad is that developers don't seem to be willing to grab hold of some of the opportunities that online only might present. What I'm talking about is giving each player a different, incomplete part of the total information, encouraging a sort of communicative, true-co-operative experience we rarely see. For example: Our warrior and our archer encounter a group of
  • Diablo Clone (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Reason58 ( 775044 ) on Monday March 15, 2010 @05:55PM (#31489136)
    FTA:

    The skill system and weapon upgrades bring in the character development side from a role playing game. And the co-op design with its warrior and archer dynamic introduces the reward of playing together like an MMO.

    It is another Diablo clone. Oh, and having two people play together makes it like a massively multiplayer online game? Right.

    I don't see a single thing that wasn't in Diablo over a decade ago, let alone something innovative.

    • Oh, and having two people play together makes it like a massively multiplayer online game? Right.

      No. They said that you get the reward of being able to play together with a friend like you would in an MMO. Not that this constitutes the game BEING an MMO.

    • Re:Diablo Clone (Score:5, Informative)

      by Sir_Lewk ( 967686 ) <sirlewk@nosPam.gmail.com> on Monday March 15, 2010 @06:08PM (#31489272)

      "Diablo clone"? The proper term is "roguelike".

      Now get off my lawn!

      • They'll call it whatever they're familiar with. If some kid in high school came up with an idea for a game, and he described it as "Halo, but with space marines fighting demons on mars!" I'd play it even though I've already played it before - as doom and warhammer 40k. And it's definitely going to be closer to Diablo than Rogue.
        • If some kid in high school came up with an idea for a game, and he described it as "Halo, but with space marines fighting demons on mars!"

          ...I'd tell him to get off my lawn.

          I'm not saying I wouldn't play this because he got the terminology wrong, I'm just saying he got the terminology wrong.

          Anyway, Diablo was a roguelike, so if it's "close to Diablo", then pretty much by definition it's close to Rogue. The idea of calling things "clone of [well known game]" is distasteful to me though, I think it discredi

          • But even you're guilty of that.

            Shouldn't you be getting off the lawns of the D&D crowd? or the crowd of lords and barons that played wargames with their miniatures, and their wooden sticks for moving multiples at once? Or the generals who did it with soldiers or slaves? For everything there's always a precursor. The word Diablo here is used as a reference point, not the PERFECT reference point to you.
            • I believe that you are taking the whole "get of my lawn" think a bit too seriously. In case you are new here, it is supposed to be a humours jab, indicating both at the same time that someone is lacking the perspective or experience you have, and acknowledging that you are being an old fart (of the type that often complains about kids on their lawn) and probably unreasonable. The correct response, if you wanted to correct my perspective, would be to mention D&D, or whatever, and explain that it was I

              • I believe that you are taking the whole "get of my lawn" think a bit too seriously.

                They took issue with you claiming "Diablo clone" is wrong and "Roguelike" is correct, not with an attempt to continue what many consider to be a lame meme involving turf.

                In case you are new here

                Says someone with a higher UID to someone with a lower UID (irony of myself doing the same is noted).

                You are taking what I intended to be a comical jab, and use it as the basis for a serious, and non-trivial discussion.

                Perhaps you could just voluntarily get off their lawn? ;)

                • Says someone with a higher UID to someone with a lower UID (irony of myself doing the same is noted).

                  Rarely have I seen that indicate anything reliably. ;)

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Chris Burke ( 6130 )

        "Diablo clone"? The proper term is "roguelike".

        Well to be serious for a moment, as a lover of both Nethack and Diablo II, I'd say it's worth distinguishing between these two genres. The things that are commonly called "roguelikes" are clearly aping rogue, and the Diablo Clones with their emphasis on real-time combat are clearly aping Diablo, by intent if nothing else. Diablo clearly owes a huge debt to Rogue-likes, but I wouldn't say it is one simply because it shakes up some of the fundamental gameplay p

      • Roguelike games are turn-based. Diablo was the first Real-time implementation of it. But, no, Diablo isn't roguelike, even if it evolved from it and it's obvious that they had played lots of those games. So, diablo-like is fully acceptable. Also, games never pop out of a vacuum, they always borrow from other games.
    • Re:Diablo Clone (Score:4, Insightful)

      by gravos ( 912628 ) on Monday March 15, 2010 @06:53PM (#31489740) Homepage
      The advantage of Diablo was how long Blizz supported it with patches. What are the odds Bethesda will fix any balance issues discovered 6 months after release?
      • by Miseph ( 979059 )

        Given the Elder Scrolls 3&4 and Fallout 3 experience... virtually 0.

        Of course, also judging by those experiences, and unless they uncharacteristically gimp modding, I'd guess that the probability of somebody doing it is hovering at 3... and not percent, I'm talking statistics: I predict that not only is the likelihood of that to be certain, but I further predict that it will be done at least 3 times over.

        Last I checked there were still psychotic diehards out there modding and patching Morrowind.

      • by ivan256 ( 17499 )

        The advantage of Diablo was how long Blizz supported it with patches. What are the odds Bethesda will fix any [...] issues [...] after release?

        None. Fixed that for you too.

        • The advantage of Diablo was how long Blizz supported it with patches. What are the odds Bethesda will fix any [...] issues [...] before or after release?

          None. Fixed that for you too.

          And I fixed it again.

      • If they do it as bad as Fallout 3, the will be dozens of amazing, free, fan-made addons and patches to the game, and a few crappy addons you pay for.
    • What I want to know is why not more than 2 characters. Even Champions of Norrath on the PS2 supported 4 in both local same screen and online.

  • No Split Screen? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Revvy ( 617529 ) * on Monday March 15, 2010 @06:00PM (#31489176) Homepage
    Too bad they've decided to do away with split screen. I count myself one of the lucky geeks with a wife who loves video games and one of our favorite types has been the split-screen dungeon crawl like Baldur's Gate. We won't be buying another TV and another PS3 to play games on, though, so I guess this is a game we won't be buying.

    Dear Game Developers: Please bring back split-screen play as a standard. While Borderlands is great, we won't be playing it forever.

    -----
    My wife and I play on the couch; video games, too.
    • Baldur's gate was same screen, wasn't it? The only thing split was the inventory if I remember right.

      I do agree though, I want more local coop games. I'd kill to get a sequel to Champions of Norrath as well.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Blakey Rat ( 99501 )

      I count myself one of the lucky geeks with a wife who loves video games and one of our favorite types has been the split-screen dungeon crawl like Baldur's Gate.

      Uh, assuming you're actually talking about Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, then it's not split-screen.

      (Baldur's Gate is a 1-person-per-computer game, and a full-on RPG, not just a dungeon crawl.)

      We won't be buying another TV and another PS3 to play games on, though, so I guess this is a game we won't be buying.

      Dear Game Developers: Please bring back s

    • I don't know, there are many multiplayer games that work without split screen. If a Mario title can do it then a dungeon crawler should be able to do it too.

  • by nschubach ( 922175 ) on Monday March 15, 2010 @06:10PM (#31489304) Journal

    multiplayer MUD

    Hopefully I can use my NIC Card to play some Local LAN network games as well!

    • by ben0207 ( 845105 ) <ben.burton@gmREDHATail.com minus distro> on Monday March 15, 2010 @06:20PM (#31489382)

      I guess I'll have to get some cash from the ATM machine to pay for all this - especially if there's DLC content. I hope I can remember my PIN number.

      While I'm out I should probably pick up some new DVI interface cables and RAM memory.

      • by bigstrat2003 ( 1058574 ) * on Monday March 15, 2010 @07:28PM (#31490094)
        Well, I've lost the will to live after reading these two posts. Thanks, guys. :(
        • Yeah, if I ever find out who you are and you're in an accident, I'm totally faking an DNR for you all.
        • by sorak ( 246725 )

          Well, I've lost the will to live after reading these two posts. Thanks, guys. :(

          So i guess you're SOL.

      • by Tynin ( 634655 )

        I guess I'll have to get some cash from the ATM machine to pay for all this - especially if there's DLC content. I hope I can remember my PIN number.

        While I'm out I should probably pick up some new DVI interface cables and RAM memory.

        ::head explodes::

        I used to have a real problem when people would do this, but I've learned to not let small things like this get to me. It used to be so bad that I would yell at the screen when my computer would boot into Windows 2000, as it says at the bottom "Built on NT technology"... NT stands for New Technology, Built on New Technology technology indeed!

      • by Endo13 ( 1000782 )

        I hate to break it to you Mr. Grammar Nazi, but you actually failed. Hardcore.

        NIC is Network Interface Controller.

        Nice try though.

      • What's with all the TLA acronyms in these two posts? Is there something I should LOL out loud about? Now, 'scuse me, I'm going to go get some KFC chicken so I can stay healthy.
  • Their games have gone downhill since Morrowind, IMHO. Oblivion was pretty, but it was no Morrowind. My main gripe with both Morrowind and Oblivion and to some extent Fallout 3 has been that Bethesda is very unimaginative when it comes to combat. The melee moves are very limited and the special effects for magic/spells is just supremely unimpressive. They should take note from Final Fantasy's style when it comes to the spell effects and from Demon's Souls style when it comes to melee and character moveme
    • Poor combat is only one of many problems with Bethesda's recent schlock. I found a site [google.com] the other day that explores the deepest problems with Oblivion (as well as Fallout 3, seeing how that's basically just a mod for Oblivion).

      I'm not much of an RPG fan. I mainly like twitch combat games; shooters. The only RPGs I've enjoyed playing are Fallout 1 and 2. However, these two games are easily in my top 5 favorite games of all time. I've played them each at least 15 times, way more than any shooter.

      When I g

  • Screw you, Bethesda (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Pherlin ( 1131333 )
    Bethesda lost me as a customer after completely screwing over me and everyone else who bought Star Trek Legacy for the PC. If they treat this as well as they treat other third party titles, you'll be in for a great time of necessary patches that never come.
  • Hopefully this time they won't get lazy and just port the XBOX interface to PC like they did with Oblivion ..
    • What was the last game you played that was ported from consoles and not come across like one? Half baked options interfaces that beg for point-and-click but can only be accessed with the keyboard (or, more moronically, by moving the mouse around to move around the menu, then hold veeeeeeery still when clickin... oh shoot, guess you moved the mouse a little and now instead of "save" you had "quit"...) and jerky, unimaginative and very unintuitive mouse controls (that would work perfectly if you had two stick

      • by Rennt ( 582550 )

        You have just described Games for Windows down to a T.

        If they just called it XboxPC or something you would have expected half-baked ports and rough edges. 'Games for Windows' is just insulting. I've played games that were made for Windows thank you Microsoft, and these don't count.

  • by Tom ( 822 )

    Finally!

    Cooperative multiplayer has been ignored for too long by the games industry. There's one reason I played Borderlands at all, and that's cooperative multiplayer done well. I'm so glad Bethesda is finally going that direction. I've always wanted cooperative Oblivion. Well, one can hope... maybe Eldar Scrolls V... please?

  • ...was a game almost impossible to complete without a hint book.

    http://www.mobygames.com/game/demons-forge [mobygames.com]

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