Demigod Updated Impressions

We took a look at Demigod recently, but there's plenty more to talk about in Gas Powered Games' upcoming strategy game. The online modes are particularly promising, and the fighting-game-esque structure of the single-player mode looks like an interesting new twist for the genre. The developers were in London to talk about their game at Atari Live, and we managed to find out more about the game directly.

Demigod is essentially an arena-based strategy game in which you'll fight it out to earn your place in the pantheon of the gods. There are already eight gods--four light and four dark--and it's up to you to have the swing vote on the council. Four of the gods you can play are assassins, and the developers claim that they play like the characters from a game such as Diablo. The other four are generals, and are more like something from Warcraft III. There will be more demigods and arenas released as downloadable content after release, although no pricing or release details have been given as yet.

The single-player game sounds like an interesting proposition. The developers explained that they took a fighting-game model and applied it to the strategy genre. This means that each game will take place over five rounds, and the god with the most points is declared the winner. It also means that the five-hour campaign is designed to be completed many times over with different characters. The level design for the arena also indicates the fighting-game influence, and it means that the battles are fast and frantic. We were particularly impressed with the level design: The prison was a huge crystal structure that encased a huge monster, and his eyes follow the camera as you pan around the action. We also got to see two demigods: the Torchbearer, who switches between fire and ice modes, and Sedna, who can disable other players' spellcasting abilities.

Although we didn't get to see it, the multiplayer portion of Demigod sounds like it will offer the true long-term challenge. You'll be able to set up matches online and control 15 different game settings to increase gold income and lower achievement items for competing players. There's also a persistent online mode that will let you jump into tournament servers for quick games, or play in long-lasting tournaments that let you build your multiplayer character over time.

Demigods is set for a March 2009 release, and those who preorder the game are promised a slot on the currently running open beta. We'll hopefully have more on Demigods ahead of the game's release next year, and in the meantime you can read more about the generals in our recent preview.