Othercide is a stylish horror tactical-RPG, developed by Lightbulb Crew, due to release on July 28. As humanity’s last hope, you lead your army of Daughters in an intricate dance of spectacular combat against fearsome bosses.
To shed some light on different aspects of their game, Lightbulb Crew has released a short, two-episode web series. The first episode is called “Forging Nightmares.” It gives us a brief background on key characters and creatures from the Othercide universe and walks us through the art design.
“Forging Nightmares” introduces the protagonists, the Daughters- decedents of a female warrior that lived for thousands of years and protected humanity from the Suffering. The Suffering is a hostile species from a parallel universe that feed off human emotions.
We also get some insight into the creation of the Child, the game’s main antagonist. It was created by Alexandre Chaudret, Othercide art director, who drew inspiration from his own childhood, from being sick for a long time with a rare disease.
Most of Othercide’s art direction looks very unique. It’s inspired by western media and Japanese pop culture, as well as other games such as Silent Hill and Nier Automata. Chaudret calls this style the “behind the scenes of reality.” Personally, it reminds me of Sin City.
The visuals are black and white, and only the Daughters can bring color into the world. We can see the red color in their character design and mechanics, as they represent the last glimmer of hope in a sea of darkness. When a Daughter dies, her scarf will turn entirely gray.
The second episode, called “Fighting Shadows,” takes us through the game’s unique combat and the Daughters’ abilities. We learn about the Dynamic Timeline System that replaces the turns during battle. It takes into account the order in which characters move, but also when they are going to move.
Othercide aims to be as unforgiving as Dark Souls, encouraging players to carefully plan their moves and anticipate incoming blows. The game is all about though tactical decisions and sacrifices. For example, if we want to heal one of our Daughters, you might have to sacrifice another.
Boss battles are very similar to what we see in Souls-like games. It is about recognizing the patterns, getting a sense of what the boss is about to do next, and reacting to it.
This video also introduces us to some of the different Daugther classes. The Blademaster is a heavy DPS that can inflict massive damage in close combat but is very vulnerable. The Shieldbearer is the team’s tank and is great for crowd control. The Soulslinger holds two massive guns and can either buff the other teammates or create chain reactions.
As the characters level up, you can choose what types of powers they develop. That way, you can adapt and react to everything that happens in the game over time.
Othercide looks awesome. From the black, white, and red color palette to Japanese-inspired character design and its slick action mechanics – this game looks fantastic! I can only hope it will also deliver with its plot as much as it is with its art design.
Othercide is coming out July 28 to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. A Nintendo Switch release will follow later this summer.
You can pre-order the game through Steam and enjoy a 15% discount.
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