Death of a Wish News

Death of a Wish features a style meter, a system that rewards points for landing attacks while avoiding damage. An uninterrupted string of consecutive strikes is called a combo, and longer combos give higher scores in an encounter. Sustaining combos past a certain length will introduce score multipliers. Each encounter has a few score thresholds that need to be surpassed to achieve a specific rank: S, A, B, and C. 

Corruption is a percentage-based statistic that rises every time the player takes damage, and is not reset upon death. If Corruption passes 100%, then the player will trigger a game over. Corruption can be reduced by achieving high ranks in combat encounters. Finish a fight with an S-rank, and your corruption will go down by 3%. Thus, the player manages their Corruption by scoring high under this combo system.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Jesper Juul writes that “valorization of the outcome” is a fundamental aspect that defines games. This means that “some of the possible outcomes of the game are better than others”. Games create tension when positive outcomes are more difficult to create than negative outcomes. Because positive outcomes are valued as goals, players will extend effort to achieve them, optimizing their behavior and engaging with the game’s systems to increase their likelihood of achieving that outcome. 

[h2]PERFECT PLAY AND SURVIVAL-ORIENTED COMBAT[/h2]

In most linear action games, the player’s most common short-term goal is to survive the next combat encounter to progress the story. In an encounter, the player can fail and die, which is the undesirable outcome that blocks progression towards long-term goals. Surviving the combat encounter is the valorized and desirable outcome. Depending on the style of the game, survival may entail defeating enemies, sneaking past them, or running away from them. 

Generally speaking, when survival is the sole metric of success, players will optimize for efficient play. Efficient play is a style that aims to resolve combat encounters as fast as possible while minimizing the risks of failure.


via Juks_Fanterisen on Tenor

In Demon’s Souls, efficient play may manifest as conservative, shield-centric play, whittling enemies down with magic attacks, and exploiting cheese tactics. In Genshin Impact, this may manifest as executing the same powerful taser team combos or exploiting Zhongli’s powerful Jade Shield. In Resident Evil 4, efficiency might mean upgrading only the starter pistol and shotgun and reusing the same knee shot to roundhouse kick approach to resolve most group encounters. To choose, say, a low-tier character in Genshin Impact because you like their backstory more, or an SL1 build in Demons Souls, is to consciously choose to play suboptimally. 

In games that encourage efficiency, there is an aspect of perfect play. Some behaviors or strategies lead to the best possible outcomes in most scenarios. In these games, it is clear what optimal play looks like, and success ends up becoming about following the implicit directions specified by the systems. Success thus becomes about how closely the player can mimic perfect play.

This instructional style of combat is ultimately a very different type of fun than what “stylish action” games aspire to, perhaps more akin to the call-and-response play of rhythm games, where perfect play is akin to successfully performing a song. 

[h2]THE EXPRESSIVE POTENTIAL OF COMBAT[/h2]

The style meters presented by character-action games like Devil May Cry 4 and Bayonetta add a secondary metric of success beyond survival. While surviving is still the primary goal in battle, being scored and ranked on using varied moves during an encounter introduces a different, contradictory goal in combat encounters. Repeating the same optimal attacks will result in diminishing scores on the style meter, so players are challenged to consider variety in their combat decisions.

The style meter thus encourages players to explore the full possibility space afforded by a game’s systems by not valorizing efficient, survival-oriented play within the context of this secondary goal. It introduces a form of the lusory attitude where players accept inefficient means of accomplishing a goal to make that experience more challenging and exciting. With these games, defensive play still tends to be instructional since blocks and parries are reactions to enemy behaviors.

via Erteicia on Tenor

Emergence allows for player expression to be a core play aesthetic. In most games, this manifests as “creative play”, like building custom structures in Minecraft. The broad movesets of character-action games, and the valorization of varied play introduced by style meters, allow behavior in combat to become a form of performance and improvisation.

By making decisions about what moves to use in a combat scenario, players can craft highly characteristic action sequences that are unique to their personal play style. The emergent depth of these systems has allowed a whole scene of “combo videos'' to proliferate on YouTube, where skilled players create and share clips of impressive plays that they were able to accomplish.

In a way, combo videos like the ones created by SunhiLegend represent a form of improvisational fight machinima utilizing gameplay as a performance medium. While this may not be the same “creative play” afforded by Minecraft or LittleBigPlanet, style meters encourage a form of freeform action within a broader structure of rules akin to improvised solos in a Jazz performance, freestyle dance, or skate videos.

[h2]STYLE, ECONOMIES, AND PLAYER MOTIVATION [/h2]

Extrinsic rewards are important to understanding style meters because they aid progress toward long-term goals. In Devil May Cry and Bayonetta, high ranks reward in-game currency that can be spent on upgrades like new moves, items, passive skills, and cosmetics. While resolving a combat encounter efficiently might solve the immediate goal of progressing to the next one, the player will lose out on in-game currency for character upgrades. This adds a negative feedback loop that will make the game more difficult if the player does not aim for high ranks. 

The issue with rewarding in-game currency in a character-action game is that certain players can ignore these systems because the purchasable upgrades are seldom essential to progression. These games are tuned in a way where statistical progression is never critical to success like in RPGs. It is thus possible for a player to ignore the rank system in Devil May Cry 3, play in the simplest and most efficient manner, and complete the game while never spending orbs. This can result in a suboptimal player experience where the expression play aesthetic never gets across. 



Born of a Dream and Death of a Wish make engaging with the rank and style systems essential because high ranks reduce Corruption. If the player plays in an overly cautious, simple, and efficient manner, they will not be able to manage the rising Corruption percentage and will repeatedly trigger the game-over state. Thus, in order to succeed in these games, players must vary their attacks to craft flashy and expressive combos, avoid combo-breaking damage, and engage with secondary systems and mechanics like build variation, taunts, and dodge offset. It is not enough to survive in Death of a Wish, players must thrive. Death of a Wish thus makes optimal offensive play improvisatory and expressive, without strictly mandating a clear vision of perfect play. 

In Born of a Dream, we used the style meter to craft procedural rhetoric about developing the strength to accept yourself in a world that won’t. Born of a Dream was about learning how to be beautiful, strong, and self-assured, and this was expressed in the combat's evolution as the player levels up and progresses, and through the story with how suppressing one’s identity for acceptance causes suffering. 

We are doing something different thematically with Death of a Wish and how the newly termed grace gauge works. We’re excited to share this new, meaningful system with the world when the game releases in the Winter of 2024. 

You can wishlist Death of a Wish now to be informed once it releases.

We are thrilled to share that the free Death of a Wish Demo is now avaliable as part of Steam Scream: The Revenge! You can experience this vicious action-RPG where style means survival for yourself



During this special event, we will conduct a contest where you can win a postcard from the developers by exhibiting exceptional performance in battle. Read on to learn how!

This demo contains the game’s first two chapters, about 90 minutes of content. In it, Christian’s quest to defeat the Four Faiths brings him to the frozen forest of Lethean, where he will meet new allies and enemies.



Players who can defeat The Deserter boss with an A-Rank or higher will receive an exclusive postcard featuring Brianna Lei’s ethereal key art and a personalized message from the developers.

This is an opportunity to get some cool physical Death of a Wish collectibles that shouldn’t be missed. In order to participate, please follow these instructions.

1. Download and install the Death of a Wish Demo.
   
2. Challenge and defeat The Deserter boss at the end of “Track 1 - Extraneo”
   
3. Defeat the Deserter with an A-Rank or Higher
   
4. Take a screenshot of your score after the fight by pressing F12 on Steam.
   
5. Submit the screenshot in this Google Form.
   

The contest will run from 10/26/23 to 11/18/23. Due to postage costs, we can send prizes to addresses in the United States only.

We will take care to protect the privacy of your data. Your personal information will be used only to send you the prize if you choose to participate in this event.

We are thrilled to share that the Death of a Wish Demo will be available for a limited time from 10/26/23 to 11/18/23 as part of the Steam Scream: The Revenge!



During this special event, we will conduct a contest where you can win a postcard from the developers by exhibiting exceptional performance in battle.

This demo contains the game’s first two chapters, about 90 minutes of content. In it, Christian’s quest to defeat the Four Faiths brings him to the frozen forest of Lethean, where he will meet new allies and enemies.

The demo culminates in a showdown with The Deserter, a morose fighter who once challenged the Sanctum, and consequently lost everything. The Deserter will challenge Christian with relentless strikes and a multi-grenade launcher. Only by embracing adaptability will players be able to defeat him. Progress from the demo will carry over into the full game when it releases.

[h2]DEMO RANK CONTEST[/h2]

Death of a Wish features a style meter, and graceful fighting is valorized with high ranks. We encourage everyone who challenges the demo to try to achieve a high rank, even if they are not experienced with action games.



Players who can defeat The Deserter with an A-Rank or higher will receive an exclusive postcard featuring Brianna Lei’s ethereal key art and a personalized message from the developers.

This is an opportunity to get some cool physical Death of a Wish collectibles that shouldn’t be missed. In order to participate, please follow these instructions.

1. Download and install the Death of a Wish Demo.
   
2. Challenge and defeat The Deserter boss at the end of “Track 1 - Extraneo”
   
3. Defeat the Deserter with an A-Rank or Higher
   
4. Take a screenshot of your score after the fight by pressing F12 on Steam.
   
5. Submit the screenshot in this Google Form.
   

The contest will run from 10/26/23 to 11/18/23. Due to postage costs, we can send prizes to addresses in the United States only.

We will take care to protect the privacy of your data. Your personal information will be used only to send you the prize if you choose to participate in this event.

Submit your scores here!

[h2]Death of a Wish Story Trailer[/h2]
We are also thrilled to share this new story trailer by Ruby Seals of CodexEntry. This new trailer contains key story details about the struggle at the core of Death of a Wish’s narrative.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

If you enjoyed the Death of a Wish demo, don’t forget to wishlist and follow it so you can get all the latest news and updates by the time it descends in Winter 2024.

Death of a Wish creator Colin Horgan was part of this interview with Entertainium's Callum Underwood at the MIX at PAX!

This conversation delves into the feeling of unbridled aggression we are trying to create with the game''s story. We also discuss how we are setting about to achieve that with Death of a Wish's new combat system. You can check out this interview here.

Next to what the player character is capable of, enemy design is the most important feature for defining the combat of a character action game.



In Lucah: Born of a Dream, enemies were defined by how they could threaten the player. Most enemies had one or two actions, usually a melee attack or a projectile, with which they would attempt to damage the player. Late-game and boss enemies stood apart by having a slightly broader toolkit, perhaps expanding a single melee swing into a short melee combo, or mixing up both projectiles and AOE (area-of-effect) attacks. While this worked for the slower, more methodical combat system of Born of a Dream, the speed and punishment demanded by Death of a Wish’s combat changes (namely, the removal of stamina) required a different approach to designing the game’s threats.

Christian, the player character in Death of a Wish, begins the game much more combat-ready than Lucah did at the start of Born of a Dream. His starter moveset, Sol, can hack and slash with a variety of combo strings, leading to unique finishers suited for a variety of combat situations (need to BREAK an enemy guard? Go for the Light-Light-Heavy-Heavy stun-heavy double-kick finisher. Need to threaten an enemy at range? Try the Heavy-Light-Light-Light-Heavy shockwave). He matches his offensive capabilities with robust defensive options, including an invincible dodge roll, a sprint, a parry, and a new Teleport that allows Christian to use the environment itself to avoid danger. Importantly, all these actions can be done at no cost! How can any enemy match up with an infinitely-dodging, infinitely-slashing player character?



Death of a Wish’s answer is simple: design each enemy to match Christian in some way. For tougher enemies, give them multiple ways to make Chris sweat.

From Track 1, every enemy either threatens Christian at range with projectiles, or has aggressive chase down behaviors to prevent passive play. Melee-focused enemies have strings of attacks to pressure Christian away from blindly slashing, with mix-ups that catch overeager evasion. While a player can infinitely attack or infinitely dodge, every enemy Christian encounters is designed in a way that punishes these tactics, meaning one cannot succeed without considering what they’re up against.



Instead, early enemy types push the player to find counters to their main offensive modes. For long-range enemies, this can mean closing the distance with a teleport and overwhelming their Guard with melee strikes, BREAKing the enemy before it can escape. Conversely, melee enemies can be kept at range with Familiar Attacks, or broken with a Perfect Dodge into Counter Attack. Advanced players can risk damage to Parry enemy attacks instead, or Reflect enemy projectiles back at them with well-timed melee strikes of their own.

Enemy design entry for Death of a Wish enemy ‘Diseased’.



Consider the above enemy, ‘Diseased’, and its entry in our internal masterlist. When designing an enemy, we list each behavior it's capable of and other relevant characteristics, which helps ensure each enemy type brings something unique to an encounter. Diseased first appears in the tutorial, and as such has only three identified behaviors:

Two-Swing Combo: The baseline for a main threat from a Death of a Wish enemy. A double strike can catch players who mistime a dodge roll from the first attack, and require multiple parries in order to break.

Chasedown Melee Attack: A way to pressure players at a distance. Enemies with chasedown behaviors force the player into close quarters combat more often than they might be comfortable with.

Shockwave Swing: An alternate way to punish passive play. These sorts of behaviors allow short-range Nightmares a way to mix-up their offensive while also damaging players who try to disengage, but suffer from long wind-ups and cool-downs, and are thus eminently punishable.



Encounter design can bolster enemy design to help stress the limits of a player’s abilities. Leading the player into encounters with multiple enemies that cover each other’s weaknesses is a great place to start. How does the player react when a melee enemy is covered by a projectile enemy? Will they still attempt to parry enemy blows when they can be clipped by covering fire? Will they be able to rush down the long range enemy when the melee threat is running Chris down? These are the sorts of contradictions that a player has to manage in the heat of combat, creating moments of interesting decision-making through the emergent interplay of each enemy’s design.



As the player comes to grips with Death of a Wish’s combat toolbox, the enemy designs need to evolve in step with the player’s growing skill. One way to do so is to create enemies that excel in multiple offensive modes. For example, a fast-swinging melee Nightmare might have a parry-proof Laser mix-up, or a machine gun-wielding soldier could lob short-distance grenades that punish rushdown strategies with AOE blasts. The more an enemy’s behaviors force the player to consider how and when to favor dealing damage vs. avoiding damage, the more advanced that enemy becomes.



A less flashy, but more sophisticated way to complicate enemy design is to build inherent defenses against common counters into the design itself. An example of this could be a short-range tanky enemy that resists damage types common among Familiar Attacks (enabled by Death of a Wish’s more robust damage-typing system compared to Born of a Dream - perhaps a topic for a future devlog). If Christian’s long range options are weakened, the player is incentivized to close distance, even if that’s where the enemy is most dangerous. This approach doesn’t have to be strictly numerical, either - prompted by the strength of parry strategies in Born of a Dream, Death of a Wish’s strongest melee enemies all have one or more maneuvers to counter a player fishing for parries, such as quick back steps that disengage and allow for counter-punishes, or Charge-based AOE attacks that weave out of melee combos and cannot be parried. These sorts of strategies give enemies the ability to create distance and dictate the flow of combat, forcing a player to either re-evaluate or double down on their own offense. The key is to evaluate optimal strategies against each enemy type, and plan against them to create just the right level of perceived enemy intelligence.

A great case study for combining these enemy design strategies is the Crusade Engine Uriel boss enemy we showcased in our last update:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Uriel is an imposing boss with both short- and long-range threats that it can switch between as necessary. Like most enemies in Death of a Wish, Uriel has unique behavior sets based on proximity to the player, including within melee range, projectile range, and out of range. When in melee range, Uriel has two three-hit melee combos that can chunk Christian’s health. We’ll call these Combo A and Combo B.



Uriel uses Combo A as a short-distance opener, usually after closing distance itself or if the player approaches with a melee combo of their own. It can pull out the Combo at any time, but as a trade off, its timing a standard 1-2-3 with only minor delay in each windup. This makes for a predictable and easily punishable offense that is effectively met with parries or a teleport out of range. 



This gets complicated by Uriel’s use of Combo B. Unlike Combo A, Uriel only throws this combo out as a mix-up after another action, like its AOE Charge Explosion. Additionally, its timing is a little trickier than A, forgoing an even 1-2-3 timing with a high-commit first strike, followed by two strikes in rapid succession. The timing is such that it catches the overeager player in an early roll, thrown out either as a mistimed parry or because of an anxious trigger finger, forcing the player to learn each combo’s unique tell before committing to a punish.



Uriel would not be worthy of boss status if it merely threw out melee strikes. Due to its half-mechanical nature, Uriel is outfitted with weapons capable of concentrated machine gun fire, as well as spread fire and laser blasts. For the player that chooses to retreat from every combo, Uriel can follow up its beatdown with either of the machine gun attacks (and in the second phase, throw in the unblockable laser cannon as a finisher). In combination with its size and speed, this allows Uriel to dominate the battlefield regardless of where Christian may be. 

To overcome this Nightmare, the player needs to pick their openings wisely and dance intelligently between offensive and defensive measures, capitalizing on weaknesses in Uriel’s moveset as Uriel might in theirs. For example, the long-range attacks mentioned above all feature long telegraphs that grant players opportune moments to close distance and chip away at Uriel’s guard, especially for a player that masters Christian’s Teleport as a gap-closer. Besides making great parry fodder, Uriel’s melee combos are easy to bait, locking Uriel into lengthy attack strings that, once avoided, provide short windows for healing or taunting. An advanced player may even consider redirecting Uriel’s machine gun fire with their own well-timed melee strikes, a risky option that deals massive guard damage when done successfully.



In practice, achieving victory is not as simple as outlined above. Uriel’s behavior sets are designed to pre-empt some of these strategies: its long-range to short-range closers eschew the typical melee-chase of some simpler enemy designs for an unparryable running Charge Explosion; its bullet fire is capable of shotgun spreads that punish players that refuse to retreat. Any one of Uriel’s attacks is capable of shredding a low-level health bar, and a player needs to respect the threat of the oneshot even when going in for a punish. That being said, any player that leads Christian to victory over this boss demonstrates an understanding of Death of a Wish’s enemy design that can carry them all the way to the end credits - as long as they continue to fight with confidence and grace.



At the start of the game, Christian announces proudly, 

“The Nightmares… 

You can’t stop me!

I don’t fear you anymore!”

With every enemy in Death of a Wish, we strive to put that feeling to the test. These enemies are as brutal and swift as Christian, and every last one is out for blood. We wanted the player to feel the danger Christian is putting himself in, but give just enough opportunity for the best players to break these foes wide open. Hopefully we’ll have succeeded once the game is in players’ hands.

Death of a Wish is coming soon. You can wishlist and follow it now to get the latest news and announcements.