Bethesda has just announced Battlecry, a new IP from Dishonored deisgner Viktor Antonov that features brutal, stylized violence. It looks like the cartoony style of Team Fortress mixed with the blood-soaked absurdity of a grindhouse film, and that's a really, really good thing.
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The below cinematic announcement trailer really sets the tone wonderfully. BattleCry is set in a world where gun powder has been banned following a cataclysmic world war at the dawn of the 20th century, so don't expect to see any guns here. War... it turns out that war does change, and traditional wars have been abolished in exchange with sanctioned wars that are settled with small teams of chosen warriors. These people are bred and trained for the express purpose of fighting for their nations, and the lack of guns meaning that you're only going to be getting that much more up close and personal with your enemies.
There are arrows and energy weapons, however, including "bows that can punch an arrow straight through an armored skull" or "electrocute your foes with high powered blades crackling with electro-static energy". The game will be a free-to-play PC title that lets 32 players battle it out as they wish, with a whole slew of character to choose from. You chose a faction and can rank up your warrior in a levelling system that allows for different strategic builds on every level.
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"The BattleCry team is happy to unveil the game that bears our studio's name," said Rich Vogel, former Bioware VP and curent president and executive producer at BattleCry Studios. "We have been hard at work to create a fresh experience for gamers that brings together multiplayer action with visually stunning combat and are excited to share details about the game and have people play BattleCry in Bethesda's booth at E3."
The trailer has a real western flair to it, with a soundtrack that's reminiscent of Morricone, so we can't wait to see what the game looks like in action and how it plays. We'll do our best to bring impressions to you from E3.
As for when the general public will get it, there will be a beta for BattleCry, but not until 2015. This one's still a ways off but we'll let you know more as we hear it. Check out battlecrythegame.com for more.