Combat Mechanics From Hades (That Would Fit In Wicked)

Wicked Feedback
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In the main preview for Wicked, the creators spoke to how the combat system is intensely skill based, and most aspects are informed by the animation system.

Already, there’s a ton of ways for a skilled player to express themselves through learning parrying timings, recognizing telegraphs, and understanding the poise system.

One way other games such as Hades improve that dopamine-infusing feeling of having the player feel like they are mastering the controls involves the use of other timing-based mechanics. Hades, for example, allows you to charge attacks just like wicked, but if you time the release of a charged attack right as the UI flashes, you get an additional power boost.

I feel Wicked could greatly benefit from these sorts of mechanics to increase satisfaction and skill expression while also mitigating some negative elements of certain weapons. Example:

  1. For some 2-Handed Heavy Weapons you can increase attack speed in your combo by timing your next attack the moment your previous one lands. (Inspired by Dragon’s Dogma)

  2. For some one handed blades the same mechanic as above can drain enemy poise quicker (inspired by Assassin’s Creed 1)

  3. For all heavy charged attacks you can increase power and/or poise damage by releasing the attack the moment the UI element around your weapon fills and flashes.

Wicked already includes some great mechanics such as dodge-attacks as well. And there are even some hidden attacks that can only occur if you do a charged attack at a specific point within a weapon’s combo. There’s always more ways to increase player skill expression though!!

4 Likes
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I like it.

More ways for skill expression and also more incentive to add charged attacks to various weapons. Adding the timing mechanic makes us more conscious about our gameplay. With some two-handed weapon we are incentivized to just press LMB over and over. Would be cool if there was more than just that.

A lot of their current systems could do with more depth, obviously it is EA but still.

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Yeah I know I saw you mention how some weapons don’t have certain moves that they should.

I actually just tried out double daggers for the first time yesterday and was surprised to see they didn’t have that move!

Makes up for it to a degree by being extremely fast and fun to look at though haha.

Just tried out a curved great sword for the first time too and loved it. At the end of the day, we are lucky as hell to have all these unique movesets, and here’s to hoping there’s more in the works

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I love how different some animations are, and how you really get that special feeling with certain movesets.

I’m gonna guess you are using divine scimitar with the rotating/dancing attacks?

If so, I do love that one.

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Hm, do different 2 handed scimitars have different combos?

I’ve heard some people say that sometimes the same weapon types can have diff movesets, is that true?

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Divine Scimitar, as example, always has the same moveset from what I have seen.

But for different two-handed swords, like freiheit, icebreaker, summer’s sting and claymore they do have different movesets.

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A few weapons actually do have time-based charged attacks in reward it’s faster with quicker recovery, specifically the katana from memory

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I know that the katana has a unique double slash move if you do a charged attack on the second attack in the main combo, but I wasn’t able to see if it actually rewards you for releasing the attack the moment the little UI element flashes

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Wholeheartedly agree on this. Skill expression is always welcome. It’s nothing that is forced on a player but instead allows some to really show when they’ve grasped a system. Seeing someone time each hit on daggers would be really cool to see. This also gives some weight to attack speed increases because now these moments come at a much faster pace.

Going to quickly speak on this. On one hand, I agree. On the other, I also found it cool that some lacked a charged attack, but in the end it does limit these weapons. Especially if a system like this were implemented.

1 Like
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Thanks! Always appreciate seeing your thoughts and input.

Im wondering if the timing mechanics would be best brought on as a blanket mechanic for all weapons, or if they would be best as rarer enchantments? Im sure balancing is a big part of all this.

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It’s easy to speak in hypotheticals, haha. I think baseline would be grand since that means you can make enchantments off it. :slight_smile: