''Deadhaus Sonata'' is an upcoming

free-to-play "Free-to-play" ("F2P" or "FtP") video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content for free. The term "free-to-play business model" or simply, "free-to-play model", refers collectively to business models tha ...

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

action role-playing An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a video game genre that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing game genres. Definition Action role-playing games emphasize real-time combat wh ...

video game developed by Apocalypse Studios and directed by

Denis Dyack Denis Dyack (born July 24, 1966) is a Canadian video game developer and the CEO of Apocalypse Studios. He is also the former president of Silicon Knights, and is a video game designer, writer, director and producer. Dyack directed '' Blood Omen: ...

. The game is set to be released for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

, and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

. In ''Deadhaus Sonata'', players play

undead The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if they were alive. A common example of an undead being is a cadaver, corpse reanimated by supernatural forces, by the application of either the deceased's o ...

classes in the House of the Dead and fight the living. ''Deadhaus Sonata'' focuses on its gameplay pillars of

procedural generation In computing, procedural generation is a method of creating data algorithmically as opposed to manually, typically through a combination of human-generated content and algorithms coupled with computer-generated randomness and processing power. I ...

, narrative driven design,

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...

integration, and cooperative

asymmetric gameplay A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

, as well as

looting Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

and fast-action combat. ''Deadhaus Sonata'' is the spiritual successor to '' Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain''.

Gameplay

''Deadhaus Sonata'' is an online action role-playing game, where the player controls a single character from a third-person perspective, alone or with up to five other people. The player will fight hordes of enemies, collecting large amounts of loot, and fulfilling quests to gain experience points and more equipment. To increase re-playability, the game's levels are procedurally generated. Players can choose from seven available classes to play as;

Vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

Revenant In folklore, a revenant is a spirit or animated corpse that is believed to have been revived from death to haunt the living. The word ''revenant'' is derived from the Old French word (see also the related French verb ). Revenants are part o ...

Lich In fantasy fiction, a lich () is a type of undead creature with magical powers. Various works of fantasy fiction, such as Clark Ashton Smith's " The Empire of the Necromancers" (1932), had used ''lich'' as a general term for any corpse, animat ...

es,

Ghoul In folklore, a ghoul (from , ') is a demon-like being or monstrous humanoid, often associated with graveyards and the consumption of human flesh. In the legends or tales in which they appear, a ghoul is far more ill-mannered and foul than go ...

s, Wraiths,

Wight A wight is a being or thing. This general meaning is shared by cognate terms in Germanic languages, however the usage of the term varies greatly over time and between regions. In Old English, it could refer to anything in existence, with more s ...

s, and

Banshee A banshee ( ; Irish language, Modern Irish , from , "woman of the Tumulus#Ireland, fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or kee ...

s. Each of these classes are aligned with one to three of the core

attributes Attribute may refer to: * Attribute (philosophy), a characteristic of an object * Attribute (research), a quality of an object * Grammatical modifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure whic ...

of the House of the Dead:

Physical Physical may refer to: *Physical examination In a physical examination, medical examination, clinical examination, or medical checkup, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a Disease, medical co ...

, Magickal, and Essential. Dyack has titled this 'the Trinary Archetype System', mentioning that many themes in ''Deadhaus Sonata'' will be influenced by the balance of these attributes in the world. Classes more aligned with Physical damage will be more effective at

melee A melee ( or ) is a confused hand-to-hand combat, hand-to-hand fight among several people. The English term ''melee'' originated circa 1648 from the French word ' (), derived from the Old French ''mesler'', from which '':wikt:medley, medley'' and ...

and non-magickal ranged damage. Magickal-aligned classes are more specialized in

spellcasting An incantation, spell, charm, enchantment, or bewitchery is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung, or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremonial ritu ...

, and essential-aligned classes are focused on the use of Artifacts, objects that have gained

sentience Sentience is the ability to experience feelings and sensations. It may not necessarily imply higher cognitive functions such as awareness, reasoning, or complex thought processes. Some writers define sentience exclusively as the capacity for ''v ...

from

supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

beings possessing them. Each class will have their own unique

skill tree Since the origin of video games in the early 1970s, the video game industry, the players, and surrounding culture have spawned a wide range of technical and slang terms. 0–9 A ...

, allowing for specializing into different class archetypes. Apocalypse has also said that crafting equipment will play a large role in the game, but they have yet to be specific on how much. ''Deadhaus Sonata'' will be free-to-play with

microtransactions Microtransaction (mtx) refers to a business model where users can purchase in-game virtual goods with micropayments. Microtransactions are often used in free-to-play games to provide a revenue source for the developers. While microtransactions ...

, using the in-game currency, 'bones'. Apocalypse Studios has stated the game will have entirely ethical

monetization Monetization ( also spelled monetisation in the UK) is, broadly speaking, the process of converting something into money. The term has a broad range of uses. In banking, the term refers to the process of converting or establishing something into ...

, avoiding all

pay-to-win "Free-to-play" ("F2P" or "FtP") video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content for free. The term "free-to-play business model" or simply, "free-to-play model", refers collectively to business models tha ...

aspects, referencing games like Path of Exile and their strictly cosmetic microtransaction system.

Setting

''Deadhaus Sonata'' takes place in the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

and

Lovecraftian Lovecraftian horror, also called cosmic horror or eldritch horror, is a subgenre of horror, fantasy fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is na ...

world of Nogosaua. The house of the Dead has been created in a cosmic war between two Elder Gods, and the Dead must discover what has brought them back and what their purpose is. In Nogosaua, there are many houses beyond Deadhaus, and a large amount of the story in ''Deadhaus Sonata'' will be about the rival between the houses. Being a narrative-driven game, ''Deadhaus Sonata'' is influenced heavily by the works of

H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Provi ...

Steven Erikson Steve Rune Lundin (born October 7, 1959), known by his pseudonym Steven Erikson, is a Canadian author, novelist who was educated and trained as both an archaeologist and anthropologist. He is best known for his ten-volume spanning epic fantasy s ...

, and

Thomas Ligotti Thomas Ligotti (born July 9, 1953) is an American horror author, lay philosopher, and writer. His writings are rooted in several literary genres – most prominently weird fiction – and have been described by critics as works of philosophical h ...

Development

Pre-release

''Deadhaus Sonata'' was announced on

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

on October 24, 2018. Dyack has referenced in many instances his inspirations for ''Deadhaus Sonata'' being his previous games, saying his team would combine parts of several of his past projects into the game such as "Lovecraftian overtones from '' Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem'', the Gothic role-playing elements of '' Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain'', where you are undead, and finally, some of the action RPG elements of ''

Too Human ''Too Human'' is an action role-playing game developed by Silicon Knights and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released in August 2008 for the Xbox 360. The game's story is a science-fictional futuristic retelling of Norse mythology that ...

''". In an interview with

VentureBeat ''VentureBeat'' is an American technology website headquartered in San Francisco, California. ''VentureBeat'' is a tech news source that publishes news, analysis, long-form features, interviews, and videos. The ''VentureBeat'' company was fou ...

, Dyack stated ''Deadhaus Sonata'' has a "10-year rollout cycle where we're believing in the community", once again stating Apocalypse' want to keep community-driven design a major part of the games' production. The studio initially developed the game using

Amazon Lumberyard Amazon Lumberyard is a now-superseded freeware cross-platform game engine developed by Amazon and based on CryEngine (initially released in 2002), which was licensed from Crytek in 2015. In July 2021, Amazon and the Linux Foundation announced tha ...

, but later switched to

Open 3D Engine Open 3D Engine is a free and open-source 3D game engine developed by Open 3D Foundation, a subsidiary of the Linux Foundation, and distributed under the Apache 2.0 open source license. The initial version of the engine is an updated version ...

because of its professional graphics quality and support for customizations that improve the game's capabilities. The game switched to using

Unity Unity is the state of being as one (either literally or figuratively). It may also refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpoo ...

in April 2022.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://deadhaussonata.com/ Cooperative video games Free-to-play video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Multiplayer online games Science fiction video games Video games developed in Canada Windows games