Every week dozens of video games are released. This is not an exaggeration. Although only a few chosen ones reach our ears, so many video games are released that it is literally impossible to talk about all of them or even know of their existence. But sometimes really interesting games slip under our radar. Games that make crazy, interesting bets that are truly different. For example, mixing the most liked elements of online gaming with an action game. That is what a game that was released this week has done: 33 Immortals.
A Divine Game
33 Immortals is an action video game with a top-down view that was released on June 10, causing a bit of a stir. Why? Because it doesn’t play like any other game you’ve played before. Or to be more precise, it plays like another kind of games you’ve played, but not in this way. Because what it resembles the most is a combination of an action game like Hades and a raid like those in World of Warcraft.
The reason for this is that 33 Immortals is based on a basic premise: each game is played with up to 33 people cooperatively at the same time. Having to coordinate as much as possible, the game is inspired by MMORPG raids to create a unique and dynamic gameplay style. It is necessary to create synergies, coordinate, and ensure that everyone goes together to overcome the numerous and brutal encounters that the game proposes, whether they are puzzles, traps, enemies, or of course, its enormous bosses.
All of this, moreover, we must do while traveling from hell to heaven passing through purgatory in a journey inspired by a book that has already inspired numerous video games: The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri. In fact, that is the reason why there are exactly 33 simultaneous players in the game. Although they tested for up to 100 players, since the book has 33 chapters, they decided that this number was much more manageable, and that tribute to the book was much more appropriate.
Everything for the synergies
Moreover, it is something that is demonstrated in all the small details of the game. All the art is inspired by the book and its representation of each part of the other world. Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven are distinctive and fraught with dangers. This fits well with the dungeon structure of the game, which recalls the composition of games like Hades or Diablo, especially in their first two installments, where we must progress not only constantly but also knowing that each new room may delve into new unimaginable dangers, not only from enemies but also from the environmental threats it may contain.
In the same way, cooperation in the game also extends to another detail such as weapons. With seven deadly sins and seven virtues, each representing a different weapon, players are encouraged to choose a different weapon and seek out those who use the equivalent weapon from the other side, as they synergize and create superior effects, resulting in stronger and much more devastating versions. Demonstrating the need to play with cooperation.
Generating a great response among the public, perhaps its only problem is that there are still many things to refine and it remains to be seen how it will evolve and sustain itself over time. But at first glance, it is an interesting game, with a fine and brilliant proposal, which is refreshing and novel for those looking for a different and relatively agile cooperative action game. With matches lasting just 25 minutes per run, it is a game easy to pick up and play, making it simple to get started and play without major commitments, unlike the raids of the MMORPGs it is inspired by.
Whether they will manage to create a brilliant game from this remains to be seen, but what is evident is that there is already a good game. One that is worth giving, at least a chance. After all, they don’t propose to take us from hell to heaven every day.