I'm sure the latest update for gladiator roguelike RPG We Who Are About To Die is a thing of beauty, and the 30% celebratory discount that accompanies it is even better. You can find the full patch notes here , and I'd love to hear from the more die-hard fans among you about how much they mean. But they mean nothing to me, because We Who Are About To Die has been knocking me off my wishlist ever since it first hit early access a few years ago. Well, no more. Throw me to the lions! Oh, there's a Steam demo in the mouth of this. Great stuff.
The first thing that struck me here was how action-packed the combat was. The swordfighting is a simplified version of the directional slashy-draggy you might find in Chivalry 2 or Kingdom Come Deliverance, and the defense lets you aim your cursor at your opponent's weapon for more effective blocking. The slapstick strikes a good balance between slack-jawed and tactical dueling, and the stamina bar keeps you from getting too enthusiastic about it all. I immediately get the feeling that this is all very bad.
I won my opening duel, then was thrown into a melee full of bastards where I bravely skirted the edges, picking off the incompetent idiots fighting with at least two of my allies, and was able to chop off their legs. The loose physics really shine during amputations, where wounded opponents lay on the ground in comical blankets of blood. My favorite thing to do is to drop your weapon at the end of an attack animation and clumsily throw rocks at people. About three-quarters of the weapons I threw land uselessly at my feet, and I'm having a great time. Wait! That's one hit! I'll do it! I'm the best gladiator!
The actual management of all this, at least in the beginning, is mainly about spending your earnings on better gear. You'll also be trying to impress various patrons as you fight, which can affect things like payouts and story events between matches. You can also train, improve, and promote yourself for more fame bonuses and unlock better gear. This is all good stuff, but the real draw here is the fights, which I can't wait to spend more time with, even if it's just to throw more rocks behind heads in an awkward way. Here are some of the highlights from those patch notes:
- IMPORTANT new content and features
- New: Character Traits
- New: 50+ random Character Traits
- Added in-game attribute rewards (obtained by winning Elite Battles and Tournaments)
- Added Character Trait Overview panel
- Added a Character Trait Trophy system to track your completion progress
- New: Player Weight System
- New Weight and Armor UI panel
- Added Player Weight system
- Light Weight class added
- Heavyweight class added
- New: Bonus Skills
- Added the concept of Bonus Skills: these allow you to level above 100 with any skill (up to 125)
- Added Basic and Bonus skill overview panel
- New: Item Properties: Several item properties that grant various Bonus Skill modifiers
- New: Features and Content
- New feature: Timeline panel shows upcoming rare events
- Added New Map: City Market
- Added New Map: City Slums
- New feature: Ambushes (dialogue event that sends you into combat while defending against bandits)
- Added many map areas and streets for Ambush
Let me know if you've spent much time with this since the early access launch and how it goes. I'd love to hear if it's worth continuing with in the long term, but I think it might lose some of its appeal once I get to basic proficiency.