Realms Of Ruin Finally Fixes A Major Problem With Warhammer … – TheGamer

Posted: October 25, 2023 at 4:27 pm

You want a taste of Chaos in a video game? Chances are youre going to be meeting Papa Nurgle sometime soon. Nurgle is very easy to imagine their minions are throngs of plagued minions, your classic video game zombie, so everything from Darktide to Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters throws bloated corpses at their players until you cant take it any more.

Dont get me wrong, I love these games (Daemonhunters especially), but there are so many oozing pustules a man can face. Darktide is teasing some non-Chaotic opponents in the near future, but its assumed that the Poxwalkers and Plague Ogryns will remain alongside your new foes. There are three other Chaos Gods, but you wouldnt know it if you were only immersed in the worlds of Warhammer through its video game adaptations. Maybe youd know Khorne, with all his blood and skull and war and more skulls, but have you ever heard of Tzeentch or Slaanesh?

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Slaanesh is avoided for a reason, albeit not a good one. Traditionally, Slaanesh was the God of excess. In the 90s, this was depicted entirely as lust, with unbridled boobs shoved in your face with every kit of Daemonettes. Warhammer video games want to keep that age rating down as much as possible, so they eliminate any Slaaneshi ideas immediately. However, Slaanesh is about much more than sex.

The Prince of Pleasure delights in all things decadent. Although hedonism is a core tenet of their realm, their vices dont prejudice. Pride, indulgence, gluttony, and of course those carnal desires are all welcome under Slaaneshs umbrella. Just be careful, because that umbrella is probably made of a flayed guardsman.

Games Workshop has been branching out with its recent Slaaneshi models. Take the Infernal Enrapturess for example, who plays enchanting melodies on a harp made of the stretched tendons of an unfortunate soul, likely still breathing. Age of Sigmar has introduced Lords of Hubris, Pain, and Gluttony, each embodying their respective sins. Theres a whole world of non-sexual Slaaneshi options, if you want your flesh-rending daemons to be more kid-friendly.

Tzeentch has no such sexual deviancy. The God of trickery, destiny, and sorcery is fickle and deceitful in equal measure. In many ways, theyre the perfect video game antagonist. Imagine a roguelike where a Tzeentchian sorcerer or Lord of Change is shifting the fabric of reality as you play through each run? Thatd be a belter Silver Tower adaptation Gee Dubs give me a call.

The problem with Tzeentch isnt so much a worry about ratings, but a question of difficulty. All the twists and turns may be difficult for players to follow, and the trickery and deception may be tricky to code. If every pathway could be a trap, mirror, or other falsehood, the number of available options could get overwhelming for developer and player alike.

However, Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin is tackling that problem head on, and were going to see the forces of Tzeentch unleashed on the battlefield later this year. I couldnt be happier that developer Frontier Developments is pushing the boat out and showing love to some other Chaos deities. Im not sure I could have taken another Nurgle game.

Realms of Ruin will likely take it easy on the trickery, at least for the multiplayer portion of the game. It will lean heavily into the spellcasting, but maybe its narrative counterpart can offer something more. The Weaver of Destinies may be pulling the strings throughout the entire campaign, tricking our plucky band of Stormcast Eternals into dead-end fights against opponents of far greater strength.

I noticed the surprisingly high production quality of Realms of Ruins single-player mode in my very first demo, with fully voice-acted characters and stunning cutscenes complementing the frantic battles that I expected. The newly revealed promise of Tzeentchian treachery makes me even more excited to dive in. The game did the impossible of making Stormcast interesting, so I cant wait to see how it weaves the strands of fate into a rich tapestry of duplicitous drama.

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Realms Of Ruin Finally Fixes A Major Problem With Warhammer ... - TheGamer

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