Earnest Cavalli has written an excellent article detailing his hands-on experience with Demigod. In his own words:
Graphics are nice, but gameplay is really the thing in Demigod.
Defense of the Ancients fans are going to be immediately at home here. Even the game’s lead designer Mike Marr agreed that the gameplay is very reminiscent of that super-popular modification to Blizzard’s Warcraft III.
Players control one of eight widely varied (and customizable) demigods, a super-powered unit capable of using special abilities in the same way a traditional role-playing game hero would use spells to complement their melee combat. Actually, a better comparison would be to Blizzard’s Diablo series, as the game offers players skill trees, and simple, mouse-driven combat that is nearly identical to that series.
Gamespot has published their impressions from a hands-on session with Demigod. The write-up covers gameplay and characters, and also includes information about the beta, DirectX 9/10 support, and more.
Now that the creators of Demigod have had the chance to start showing off their game at the Game Developers Conference, news editorials are starting to appear on the game. One of the first gaming sites to bring us news is GameSpy, who have published a small preview of the game. The article does not go into too much detail and we know a lot of the information in it already, however it does talk about what two of the unit types are, talks a bit of how the game is set up and the way the maps look.
The Rook (you know him from the screenshots — the one with the trebuchet on his head) is, surprisingly, an assassin type; that glowing thing on his shoulder actually channels the beams that the defensive structures around his base will fire. He can also slam his hammer on the ground and create a shockwave that will send creeps flying. The Oak, who looks similarly vaguely golem-like in appearance, is a general, meaning he can build barracks around his base to spawn creeps and deploy from his castle a “super weapon” in the form of a beam to isolated spots on the map.
The first thing you’ll notice about the game is how forcefully it conveys scale. The biggest units — usually the demigods themselves, though not always — tower over the rank-and-file “creeps,” and a quick zoom-out reveals just how drastically the maps dwarf every unit on them. The maps are very much in keeping with the far-out high concept; one of the ones on display today was a huge circular battlefield that could house two teams of five that’s suspended from chains attached to an enormous superstructure. When viewed from above, it was hard to discern the movements of individual units on the field. Focusing in, though, reveals just how ample a space it was, with plenty of room for the biggest units to flail about in the lanes.
GameSpy also gives a what is “spiffy” and what is “iffy” summary of the game:
Spiffy:
Great look; built around a proven playstyle that’s been heavily iterated upon.
Iffy:
Let’s hope there’s sufficient variety between the hero units, particularly the generals.
The full article is a good read for anyone who wants to get a small preview of what the game is like.
Enjoy
P.S. Since the hyperlink colour seems to be the same as the text at the moment, here is the link for those who miss it in the text until it’s fixed.
