The Legacy of Kain has had a renaissance of sorts over the past few months. Whilst critical and public reception was somewhat mixed for both the remaster of Defiance and the new title, Ascendance, there did feel like a resurgence of interest in the world of Nosgoth. Despite my misgivings about how well the gameplay of Defiance held up, the story-telling and worldbuilding was still superb. A large part of that goes back to the initial establishment of Kain’s story in the original Blood Omen game from the late 1990s. This first game was directed by Denis Dyack at Silicon Knights, but then a lengthy legal battle with publisher Crystal Dynamics saw the rights for the series go to the latter company. Long story short, Dyack is now back with a new development team and a title that promises to be a spiritual successor to the origins of Kain.
Deadhaus Sonata by Apocalypse Studios has just released in Early Access, taking a somewhat controversial approach by charging for the early access version of what will eventually become a free-to-play title. This has worked for the Path of Exile games, but from what I’ve played so far, Deadhaus Sonata is no Path of Exile. That being said, this is very early days for the title which feels more like a late Alpha build than something that should be a paid release.
There are bold plans for the gameplay of Deadhaus with up to six co-operative players and a choice of player race and characters, but it is currently solo only and you get to play as a default vampire build. This narrow focus is the first of many reasons why I don’t think the game is ready for wider access. The setup feels very limited and the world empty aside from dozens of identical enemies, such that it doesn’t feel designed for a co-op party. It’s not that the world is huge and designed for strategic approaches, but in fact often feels indistinguishable from the layout of Defiance.
Combat is not so much the main mechanic at present but instead the only one. Levels are straight corridors or simple hub areas and very little in the way of platforming or mechanical navigation is needed to get between areas. Despite this there is an objective trail that barely works (one of many features that feel like Alpha rather than Early Access) and a journal that sometimes updates your progress and sometimes gets stuck on earlier parts of quests. These quests range from killing a certain number of chosen enemies to defending an area from these same enemies, and they all boil down to the combat.
This wouldn’t be so bad were it not for the fact that the combat is incredibly clunky at present. Many animations don’t trigger properly, attacks are inconsistent, there is no real way to defend or block, and special attacks are essential but have lengthy cooldowns. The combat looks like it should be action-packed third person, but instead feels like clunky MMORPG hotbar mashing. This approach reaches its nadir with a huge boss enemy at the bottom of the catacombs that often takes no damage and can kill you in one hit if it decides too. Even though there appears to be some kind of character levelling in place this didn’t seem to have any noticeable effects.
This preview obviously comes across as very negative which gives me little pleasure. However, after several hours of playing I have little compulsion to go back in its current state. This isn’t me writing off the game altogether, but more a case of recommending waiting until development is much further along before diving in. The fact that this very rough feeling build is a paid release, though, is a decision that could well put off many players who would otherwise have been interested in the idea.
