Red Beard Games has pushed out Divine Knockout update 1.21, which is the game’s day one update given it’s launching today! Of note given the game is also launching as a PlayStation Plus freebie starting today, which should mean a good influx of players. Read on for what’s new in the Divine Knockout December 6 patch notes.
No patch notes have been released just yet, but you can check out details regarding the third-person fighting game below.
Everybody was platform fighting – The core combat of DKO is inspired by the 2D platform fighters everyone grew up playing (and loving). You damage enemies to make them vulnerable, then you knock them out of the arena with a smashing blow. Simple, right?
Into the third dimension! – Wrong. DKO is something brand new: a 3rd-person platform fighter. When you throw out Thor’s hammer Mjolnir, it doesn’t just go off to the right of the screen; you have to aim at your target. If you want to chase down a fleeing Ymir, you’ll need your 3D platforming skills to jump between platforms. It’s somehow both familiar and something you’ve never played before – and it’s very fun.
Years of iteration – The dev team at Red Beard Games has been working on DKO for three-plus years, trying to discover just what a 3rd-person platform fighter really is. They’ve playtested dozens of drastically different versions of DKO as experiments. One was more of a “physics shooter” than a platform fighter, the devs say – not a surprise considering the core team was behind the indie cult classic Sky Noon. But over the years and experiments, they found the secret sauce of DKO.
Execution, not dexterity – Success in DKO comes down to positioning and timing, not memorizing combos or difficult inputs. Each character has light and heavy attacks that can be chained into combos, and a dodge to evade blows or reposition. But characters are truly defined by their three abilities (which go on cooldown after use), and a game-changing ultimate ability – Watch out when King Arthur summons the might of his legendary sword Excalibur!
The Mightiest Gods of Myth – The playable characters put the “Divine” into Divine Knockout. You’ll play as a legendary god of mythology in DKO; do you want to hurl boulders as Hercules or master the katana as Susano? These gods come from all the world’s myths, with the 10 Gods available at launch representing the Japanese, Greek, Roman, Norse, and Arthurian pantheons. Devs say more pantheons and Gods will be added regularly.
Adorable anime styling – The gods of DKO are reinterpreted in a charming chibi art style, inspired by the chibi god skins in the hit action MOBA Smite. Red Beard Games’ amazing art team took this inspiration to an all-new level with the full power of Unreal Engine 4, adding anime-style cel shading and reworking proportions so that combat remains readable. Somehow, even the Greek God of Death, Thanatos, looks downright huggable in this stunning game.
Play your way – Though DKO is launching with 10 Gods, it’s launching with hundreds of ways to play each god. A deep system of Talents lets you define your own playstyle for each God. As Athena, for example, you can be a long-ranged spear thrower, a teamwork-focused shieldbearer, or an agile martial expert – all on the same god, just by equipping new Talents. Red Beard Games assures us the system is not pay-to-win; all players always start with a full loadout of Talents, and additional playtime unlocks additional options – not additional power.
The Mightiest Gods of Myth – The playable characters put the “Divine” into Divine Knockout. You’ll play as a legendary god of mythology in DKO; do you want to hurl boulders as Hercules or master the katana as Susano? These gods come from all the world’s myths, with the 10 Gods available at launch representing the Japanese, Greek, Roman, Norse, and Arthurian pantheons. Devs say more pantheons and Gods will be added regularly.
Adorable anime styling – The gods of DKO are reinterpreted in a charming chibi art style, inspired by the chibi god skins in the hit action MOBA Smite. Red Beard Games’ amazing art team took this inspiration to an all-new level with the full power of Unreal Engine 4, adding anime-style cel shading and reworking proportions so that combat remains readable. Somehow, even the Greek God of Death, Thanatos, looks downright huggable in this stunning game.
Play your way – Though DKO is launching with 10 Gods, it’s launching with hundreds of ways to play each god. A deep system of Talents lets you define your own playstyle for each God. As Athena, for example, you can be a long-ranged spear thrower, a teamwork-focused shieldbearer, or an agile martial expert – all on the same god, just by equipping new Talents. Red Beard Games assures us the system is not pay-to-win; all players always start with a full loadout of Talents, and additional playtime unlocks additional options – not additional power.
If there are patch notes released for today, we’ll update the article accordingly.
Divine Knockout launches this December 6 on PlayStation, Xbox and PC.
