Sequestered well away from other game teams at Valve, the 30-odd people making Dota Underlords are having a lot of fun. They’re loud and competitive, playing instruments on breaks from coding and jumping at the chance to down tools and play their game for a while. After a year of growth and work, they’re preparing to release season one of Underlords this month—February 25. I visited the team, talked about their development, and got a look at what’s new in the game’s 1.0 version. What really struck me is that they’re still in love with their game in a way, unlike many other teams I’ve spoken to. Even in a studio with a healthy work environment, the time before release is still fraught and stressful. The Underlords team seems to just want to keep making Underlords.
Dota Underlords is a standalone spinoff from the main game. It’s inspired by a mod, Dota Auto Chess, that has gone on to spawn a whole new genre. A simple hook makes the hero-drafting gameplay of the new auto battles almost like a kind of strategic slot machine, fun both sitting at a desktop and on mobile. They’re colorful games, forcing you to stay on your toes, but still offering downtime between rounds. Brad Muir, coder, and designer on Underlords, feel just that way about it. “I’ll go to the bathroom at round 12 and 13,” he says, to laughter from his teammates. “Whatever, it’s fine, I’m doing fine, I can just skip out on it and it’s OK.”
For a studio that makes notoriously innovative games making a spinoff from Dota 2, what is perhaps the most complex competitive game in the world today, Muir’s attitude came as a surprise. But I shouldn’t have been surprised. There’s a lot that’s unusual about Dota Underlords.
THE GAME THAT DOTA MADE
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 2020-Ausgabe von PC Gamer US Edition.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 2020-Ausgabe von PC Gamer US Edition.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Special Report- Stacked Deck - Monster Train, a deckbuilding roguelike that firmly entrenched itself as the crown prince to the kingly Slay the Spire back in 2020, was the kind of smash success you might call Champagne Big.
Monster Train, a deckbuilding roguelike that firmly entrenched itself as the crown prince to the kingly Slay the Spire back in 2020, was the kind of smash success you might call Champagne Big. Four years later, its successor Inkbound’s launch from Early Access was looking more like Sandwich Big.I’m not just saying that because of the mountain of lamb and eggplants I ate while meeting with developer Shiny Shoe over lunch, to feel out what the aftermath of releasing a game looks like in 2024. I mean, have I thought about that sandwich every day since? Yes. But also, the indie team talked frankly about the struggle of luring Monster Train’s audience on board for its next game.
SCREENBOUND
How a 5D platformer went viral two months into development
OLED GAMING MONITORS
A fresh wave of OLED panels brings fresh options, greater resolutions and makes for even more impressive gaming monitors
CRYSIS 2
A cinematic FPS with tour de force visuals.
PLOD OF WAR
SENUA’S SAGA: HELLBLADE 2 fails to find a new path for its hero
GALAXY QUEST
HOMEWORLD 3 is a flashy, ambitious RTS, but some of the original magic is missing
FAR REACHING
Twenty years ago, FAR CRY changed the landscape of PC gaming forever.
THY KINGDOM COME
SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE is the culmination of decades of FromSoftware RPGs, and a gargantuan finale for ELDEN RING
KILLING FLOOR 3
Tripwire Interactive's creature feature is back
IMPERFECTLY BALANCED
Arrowhead says HELLDIVERS 2 balancing patches have 'gone too far'