Since Friday, I've been playing Arkheron as much as I can, trying out everything the game has to offer in this early playtesting stage. And what I saw was very surprising, even though I had immediately known that I'd like it since first seeing the trailer.
Arkheron's been hosting a playtest since Sept. 19 and will continue to do so throughout the rest of the weekend. Applications via Steam still seem to be open, so do yourself a favor and sign up, the game is quite amazing. I would describe it as a blend of ARPG action-looters and battle royales, where 15 teams of three have to ascend a strange Tower, with only one squad emerging victorious.
Everyone spawns in with bare hands and has to scramble throughout the map to find loot, which is divided into several categories:
- Echo items are your baseline tools, such as axes, bows, and scimitars, and are not tied to any particular Eternal.
- Eternal items are called Relics, and are all core components of any respective Eternal or Hero. Collecting two Relics from the same Eternal gives you a set bonus, whereas having all four items allows you to transform into that Eternal, the downside being you're locked into that build for the rest of the match.
- Lastly, there are the consumables, which range from shield regen, over-time HP restoration, and full HP heals, alongside some special one-time-use consumables that grant various effects.
Prioritizing Eternal Relics is the go-to strategy, as the set bonuses stack up pretty quickly, and transforming into an Eternal can be quite the buff. There are 10 Eternals in the game at the moment, and always will be (with new ones added via rotations), totaling 40 Relics.
Players clash on the various floors of the Tower after first dropping in battle royale-style. The drop isn't from any plane or ship, mind you; everyone selects their location from the map and has to pick a spot within expanding circles, meaning only select parts of the map are available initially.
When you do drop in, the scramble I've described above begins, during which you can fight other players, loot items, complete quests, and find portals to ascend to the next floor. After a while, you'll get notified of the closing circle, forcing players to go to the closest portal and ascend to the floor above. If you do not, the circle immediately envelops the entire floor and starts ticking damage, so it differs significantly from other BRs.
If another team enters the same portal as you, it will glow red and delay your ascent until only one team is left standing within. So long as a player lives, a team won't be considered wiped, since everyone can be revived at a shop, which is located at various spots on each of the floors.
Being set in such tight spaces, and with Eternal Relics playing such an important role in the core loop, results in fast-paced, tense combat which emphasizes tactics over broader strategy. Luck does have a role in the equation, but unlike traditional battle royales, your luck can run out quite quickly in Arkheron, as it's only a matter of time until another team crosses your path with better items and skills, blocking your ascent.
You thus cannot hide your way into victory, waiting for others to be eaten by the zone. Combat is front and center and necessary, so you'll have to plan your way around that, actively participate in the game, and ensure you make it out of the Tower at the end, where a final 3v3 showdown determines the victor.
It's an incredible game, especially for something that's only just begun playtesting. While some elements are certainly missing, primarily music and audio effects, Arkheron nonetheless offers a lot of replayability where each run is varied, with your Eternal sets almost always being different from the match before.
The performance isn't always great, but it's still in alpha and built on Unity rather than Unreal Engine 5, so that'll certainly help boost FPS once the game is out fully.
I'll absolutely be keeping an eye on the game, which is set to add seasonal content, additional eternals, and other live-service elements by the time it launches. Hopefully, it'll have a long lifespan and challenge the stale PVP environment of modern gaming.
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