Shiro Games brought us Northgard a few years ago, a wonderful RTS with a focus on economy, diplomacy, and claiming territories tactically instead of just swarming over the map. Now the indie developers are back with their next title, and it’s quite a bit of a departure from their previous work.
They describe their upcoming title, Darksburg, as “a fast-paced cooperative action game” where players take control of a band of survivors to traverse the streets of Darksburg, fighting off Revenants and other players. You’ll take on a variety of challenges as you struggle to survive against overwhelming odds.
Shiro lists the following as the key features of the game on their website:
- Master an unforgiving cooperative gameplay to survive the hordes of infected that overtook Darksburg!
- Explore various maps with different objectives
- Manage very limited resources and master reach survivor’s skills to prevail
- Challenge your team with the highest difficulty levels for even greater rewards
- Improve your favorite survivors with items and unlockable talents
Perhaps the most interesting mechanic is the promise to play as the “bad guys” in PvP. It seems somewhat similar to Left 4 Dead’s versus mode that allows one team to play as the “special infected,” in that players get to play as one of four Revenants.
At the moment, there are also three maps intended to release. The first is the Harbour, a small waterside city located in Dreadmire county. Formerly a bustling harbor town, it’s now filled with the infected and the dead. The second is Faubourg, a rural township that separates the heart of Darksburg from the nearby Monastery. Finally, the Darksburg marketplace itself, formerly one of the liveliest parts of town, is now filled with rotting zombies and vicious monstrosities.
There are eight playable characters, counting four Revenants and four Survivors, which we’ll discuss in a later piece. You can pick whether you want to be a Survivor or a Revenant, which is a bit of a separation from Left 4 Dead’s randomized PvP system. Joining the Revenants ranks gives you access to grotesque abilities to help you foil the Survivors.
Darksburg will be releasing soon on February 12th, coming to Steam in an early access format. There doesn’t seem to be any word on how long Shiro intends to keep the title in early access, and it seems to be arriving on Steam with more content than your average EA title as well. Shiro has a history of delivering wonderfully charming and in-depth titles, so there’s a good chance that you won’t regret supporting Darksburg!
