14 DAY TRIAL // Mordheim – City of the Damned is without doubt a game for a hardcore group of players, those who love both turn-based tactical combat and the fantasy version of the Warhammer universe, but the E3 2014 demo shows some very solid core mechanics and a lot of potential for long hours of fun.
The development team at Rogue Factor consists mostly of fans of the tabletop game on which the experience is based and they aim to faithfully revive it for the digital space, with an emphasis on careful recreation of the rules and on streamlining where it's possible.
During the E3 2014 demo for Mordheim – City of the Damned, the team is showing a battle between the Sister of Sigmar and the Skaven, with both factions bringing a variety of units to the battlefield.
Each character has a different set of powers and can use separate sets pf points for movement and battle, with positioning important for the result and with teamwork a requirement for those who want to achieve victory.
Each unit has two different weapon loadouts and gamers can select the equipment before battles, as well as evolving their units once they gain enough experience.
The combat areas are both randomly generated and created by the team based on landmarks like the Temple of Sigmar.
One of the unique elements of Mordheim – City of the Damned is that units who fall in battle have a chance of dying outright, which means that they are completely removed from the game, or, if they pass a check, they might just get a disabling injury that affects their performance in the long term.
The game is designed for those who want to spend hours obsessing over tactics and equipment and the team at Rogue Factor believes that they will also be interested in fighting their friends online, in show matches where injuries are not fatal or in ranked battles that bring in more experience.
Mordheim – City of the Damned is not visually impressive, but the game manages to capture the unique look of the units that the various Warhammer factions are sending into the city in order to gather Wyrdstone.
It was also surprising to see that the team has chosen to keep the camera close to the units and focus on what they can actually see rather than use a bird's eye view and give the player a more tactical outlook.
Mordheim – City of the Damned should be out on the PC at some point in the final quarter of this year.