Overview
A free-to-play, arcade-style online fighting game that pits two teams of two players against each other, forcing them to use their unique character's skills together to defeat their opponents. After struggling to find a consistent playerbase, the game was shut down on December 15, 2015, five months after its official launch.
Story
Somewhere in the future, the world has been overtaken by natural disasters, such as meteorites falling to Earth leaving mysterious cubes and cold fronts sweeping over areas where warmer climates are the norm. During this time, several people have begun to manifest powers from mythological beasts and gods. These people are called Incarnates. Though the general public fears the Incarnates, several powerful people around the world seek to harness the Incarnates for their own ends, while a mysterious voice calls upon them to defeat the "Sovereign."
Characters
1 Stock
These characters have very low HP, but are incredibly agile and capable of keeping enemies busy.
| Name | Incarnate | Description | Ability |
|---|
| Mireia Valentine | Lilith | A weapons dealer currently searching for "The Prophet," she makes and sells Lamina weapons and Skill Cubes to Incarnates. | Transforms into Lilith and leeches tiny amounts of health when latched on to enemies. |
| Fernando Duran | Slayer | Not actually an Incarnate, but a genetically-enhanced human in a high-tech suit, hunting down Incarnates for the human-supremacist group Akohr. | When grappling an enemy, can disable one of their abilities at a time. |
2 Stock
Balanced characters who can perform well at close or medium-range, but several have unique quirks that require careful strategies to deal with.
| Name | Incarnate | Description | Ability |
|---|
| Jedrek Tyler | Mephistopheles | A young man who awakened recently after being injured in a street fight. He seeks to reunite with his kidnapped girlfriend while trying to calm the raging bloodlust of his Incarnate form. | Can briefly transform into his Incarnate form, enhancing all of his attacks. |
| Dr. Gaspar Watteu | Grim Reaper | A scientist whose experiments on Incarnates often ended in failure. After the President shut down his lab, Watteu awakened his own Incarnate powers. Now he controls a horde of zombies and seeks revenge on the President. | Summons multiple zombie forms and can enhance them with his own attacks, or surf on a ball of interlocked zombies. |
| Erendira Quinn | Brynhildr | Commander of the Wild Hunt who believes that Incarnates are too powerful to remain unchecked, and supports the government's efforts to register or restrain as many Incarnates as possible. | Speeds around the battlefield on her Incarnate motorbike, dodging projectiles. |
| Brad Burrell | Fenrir | A soldier from the UK and leader of the Were-Legion, a pack of shapeshifting soldiers. Currently answers to Kruger. | Can switch between his human form with bow and arrow and his wolf form for close-range attacks. |
| Zaur Miljkovich | Loki | A former agent of Akohr who defected to Vikarāla. | Consumes junk food until he transforms into a lava monster or expends energy on special attacks. |
| Rani Asha Mehta | Kali | The ruthless, foul-mouthed CEO of Vikarāla, a globe-spanning Indian telecommunications conglomerate. Asha works to create a world where Incarnates reign supreme, with her as the leader. | Kali can either be summoned to enhance Asha's own attacks or be separated from Asha to hit enemies from two angles. |
| Yuki Himuro | Utsuta-Hime | Japanese schoolgirl whose father was killed while investigating Vikarāla. She now trains under his friend in hopes that she may one day be able to avenge her father. | Can summon giant snowballs and icy familiars to fight her enemies. Transforms into Utsuta-Hime herself after taking enough damage. |
3 Stock
Incredibly powerful characters who are also incredibly slow and may have trouble dealing with close-range attackers.
| Name | Incarnate | Description | Ability |
|---|
| Terrence Blake | Ares | A former member of the Wild Hunt who seeks to change attitudes towards Incarnates for the better. Helped Jedrek control his powers. | Summons Ares to complement his own attacks. |
| Reinhold Kruger | Odin | An EU-based General who seeks to conquer Europe to secure a future for the Incarnates. However, his revolution is put on hold after hearing whispers about "the Prophet" in the USA. | Pilots a transforming tank called "Sleipnir," capable of raining down lasers and missiles on its enemies. |
| Ricardo Abascal | Ra | A doctor and former agent of Akohr who turned his back on the group after saving the life of his target, an Incarnate boy nicknamed "the Phoenix." The boy rewarded him with the powers of Ra. Believes in nonviolence when possible. | Ra can transform into three different forms, each with their own attacks: a laser-firing falcon, a close-range ram, or a bomb-spreading scarab. |
| Gordon Matthew Sanders | Zeus | President of the United States of America who holds many secrets. On one hand, he created the Wild Hunt and pushed Incarnate registration legislation through Congress. On the other, he secretly holds "the Prophet" captive and happens to be a powerful Incarnate himself. | With Zeus, he can fire lightning bolts across the battlefield, or impale enemies on lightning swords at close range. |
| Unknown | Red Dragon | A powerful Herald awakened by the Prophet who happens to be an ancestor of Jedrek Tyler, but infused with lamina, lengthening his lifespan. | Similar powers to Jedrek but in a permanently transformed state. Red Dragon has powerful attacks, but at a cost of lower defense. |
Other
These characters have been introduced into the story, but are currently unplayable.
- Kanat (Phoenix): A young boy who is targeted by nearly every group around the world for his Incarnate ability to heal the sick and wounded instantly and awaken Incarnate abilities even in normal humans. Currently traveling with Dr. Abascal after the doctor decided to save him.
- Oswald Coleman: A prisoner who holds "The Prophet" as a split personality within his body, currently being held captive by President Sanders. The Prophet plots to free himself.
Locations
- New York City, NY: in Times Square
- London, England: at the Westminster Bridge
- Paris, France: at the Arc de Triomphe
- Washington, DC: around the White House
- San Francisco, CA: at the Golden Gate Bridge
Gameplay
Battle
Each pair starts the match with a full Stock meter containing 6 Stock that both characters draw from when respawning. In order to win, one team must reduce their enemy's stock to below 0. Different characters require 1-3 Stock to respawn, so if a dying character's stock count is more than the team's remaining stock, the team loses.
For example, if a Slayer-Zeus team has 2 Stock remaining, Zeus's death would result in a loss, as he requires 3 Stock to respawn. If Slayer dies, he only requires 1 Stock to respawn, so the team would still be in play, but with only 1 Stock remaining.
At the end of each match, alongside the general battle stats, each pair is graded on teamwork through the amount of "Nice Cuts," Tag Combos and Chain Attacks they were able to pull off in the round, resulting in a letter grade of C (lowest), B, A or S (highest). Getting an S ranking also nets a Steam achievement the first time.
Mechanics
Each character has four attack categories: a melee attack, a long-range attack, a special version of each attack, and a special character ability. Each of these attacks varies depending on the character. Most attacks have a corresponding meter on the bottom-right of the screen, right next to a number (where applicable) that tells how much ammo/charge is left before the attack will auto-reload.
During the battle, teamwork is a key to victory. One way to accomplish this are "tag combos," where one character launches up a single enemy into the air, and a second character will see "Tag Combo Chance" flash on their screen. They have a couple of seconds to follow up with either a long-range or melee finisher that does much more damage than a standard attack if successful.
Awakening
Every character also has a unique "Awakening" ability that depends on a meter which is filled as the player is hit throughout the match. When triggered, the Awakening ability briefly gives a buff to the team and/or a debuff to the enemy team, which varies depending on the character that uses it. If the triggering character is being attacked at close-range while Awakening, the attacker will also be knocked back, giving the Awakened character a chance to retaliate.
Skill Cube
The skill cube is used to enhance the stats of the player's character. Skill Cube materials can be acquired either directly through the store or randomly at the end of any match. The materials can be arranged Tetris-style as long as there is space available to place the blocks. Additional Skill Cube spaces can either be obtained after hitting certain milestones or purchased through the store with either currency.
Materials have a limited number of uses before they break and cannot be used, but they will stay in your inventory. Spare materials can be synthesized to repair damaged or broken Skill Cube materials, or used to increase the "level" of a single material, thus increasing it's effectiveness.
Most materials can be used for every playable character, and can enhance offense, defense, speed, tracking movement of attacks, and more. Further, there are some character-specific materials that enhance specific attacks when using the corresponding character.
Team-building
Players are divided into two teams of two apiece, either with pre-formed teams or with two solo players paired at the start. The game has no native text chat aside from a handful of preset phrases, but does allow for voice-chat if the player has a microphone hooked up to the computer.
When a player reaches level 10, they unlock the ability to create a "Circle," or the game's version of a Clan, and start gaining members. However, they are free to join a Circle at any level, provided the Circle is either open to new members or has invited them to join.
Economy
There are two types of currency in place: LP (Lamina Points) and IP (Incarnate Points). LP can be earned in-game without spending anything. IP can be earned when converted from real money through Steam wallet.
All non-cosmetic items and characters can be purchased with LP, but when buying characters with LP the price increases for the remaining characters each time a new character is purchased.
Development
Bandai Namco wished to bring its popular Gundam Vs. franchise to Western markets, but for unspecified reasons could or would not simply localize the game itself. Instead, they performed market research and decided to bring the 2v2 arcade game overseas as a free-to-play online PC game, using an original IP they had reportedly been developing for years alongside Gundam.
"We've been developing this game for some years now and we've done a lot of market research as well. Some of the gameplay mechanics we found were still viable to western audiences, we kept and refined, but a lot of times we discarded them for something completely new. A large portion of the game is quite different from Gundam."
--Ryuichiro Baba, Producer of both Gundam Vs. and Rise of Incarnates [source]
Characters were created for the game by designers who had originally worked on Soul Calibur and Tekken games (also owned by Bandai Namco). The first four of these characters were revealed in an announcement trailer shown on April 2014, with the Incarnates of Mephistopheles, Ares, Lilith, and the Grim Reaper.
The game entered beta in 2014, and later appeared on Steam through the Early Access program in early February 2015. The game officially "launched" on July 1, 2015.
PC System Requirements
Minimum
- OS: Windows 7 64bit, Windows 8 64bit, Windows 8.1 64bit
- Processor: Intel Core i3 2.5 GHz / AMD Phenom II X4 910
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 630 / ATI Radeon HD 5870
- DirectX: Version 11
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Hard Drive: 10 GB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX compatible sound card
Recommended
- OS: Windows 7 64bit, Windows 8 64bit, Windows 8.1 64bit
- Processor: Intel Core i7 / AMD A10
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 660 @ 2GB
- DirectX: Version 11
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Hard Drive: 10 GB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX compatible sound card
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