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It´s been about a month since Games Hut launched their ARPG/roguelike hack n’ slash game “Herolike” on Steam (you can buy the early access version for 7,99 Euros at the moment). So I decided to do an interview with Games Hut (since I just happen to be a huge fan of Diablo-like games). Well, done and said. Because less than a week ago I sat down with Radu Ungureanu and talked about what “Herolike” has to offer the players. And I have to say that I´m pretty happy with how the interview turned out, so I hope that you guys and girls will enjoy it as well.

Jonas TGG
There are two classes in the game (guardian and shaman). And what I get from watching videos of “Herolike” is that the guardian is a tank melee class that uses a shield and a sword. And the shaman is a magic range class with a two-handed staff. So this makes me wonder if you (the player) will be able to customize these play styles? For example, let’s say the guardian with dual wield and the shaman with bow etc. Or do you want to focus on one play style and make it really good?

Radu:
There will be classes that cover the entire array of weapons. Classes in Herolike are archetypes, so it is not possible to have a mage wilding a massive hammer for example. This is done in order to encourage the player to unlock all the classes that will be available in the game.

There are two character classes to choose from in “Herolike” (the Guardian and the Shaman).

Jonas TGG
Will there be more races to choose between for the classes or do you plan to add more classes with another race?

Radu:
For now we are thinking at having gender selection among classes. Since it’s a roguelike, the game won’t focus too much on character customization.

Jonas TGG
What does the linear gameplay and open-world gameplay look in the game? I mean, Is “Herolike” mostly focused on the story or can you do side-quests and building your town with no care in the world? Or perhaps it´s something in between?

Radu:
How you play the game is your choice. You can take any path you like. Town development is dependent only on player advancing through the game, it doesn’t matter how he chooses to do that.

Some much-needed light in a world that´s way too dark.

Jonas TGG
And since we’re already speaking of the story in the game. I‘ve read that there will be moral choices in the game. So will that be a huge part of the game? And will your moral choices affect the story and the world around you?

Radu:
Moral choices are a big part of the game, content wise. Their impact will be only regarding your hero (hero will collect Titles based on the decision he makes and these titles affect hero stats). For example if you often choose to trick people, then you will receive a title that will reflect this accordingly.

Jonas TGG
I’m quite interested in the town building and customization aspects of the game. So I’m guessing that you will need material in-order to improve your town right? If so, do you gather the resources yourself during travels, or can you send out npc´s to areas you’ve taken over on the map? Another thing, when you add stuff to your town. Does that unlock brand-new things that you can do in the game? (like side quests, for example). And will the town building part of “Herolike” help you to get new unique items? (in short, you get rewarded for putting in time and effort into your town).

There´s nothing like a monster barbeque in the morning.

Radu:
That would be correct. You need materials to construct the buildings. These resources are granted by your main building, The Keep, after each successful encounter in the game world. Also, there is a building called the Scavengers Guild, where you send scavengers to retrieve materials (and gold) from the battlefields. These missions will cost you your renown as you will use it to persuade them into going out in the field and risk their life. Buildings influences many aspect of the game, most of them have the gift of making things easier for the player: new heroes start with more resources or levels, the hero receives a second chance in case he dies, gather more materials each successful encounter, etc.

Jonas TGG
Fantastical/legendary items, can they drop from normal mobs or are they boss based drops? And will there be set based gear?

Radu:
Legendary items are called Artifacts and they drop only from successful boss fights. The chance of the artifacts dropping is based on how much renown your hero has.

You can build six different kinds of buildings in “Herolike”, and each buildning influences many aspect of the game.

Jonas TGG
I didn’t see much about crafting your own items. Will there be gear/item crafting and upgrade system in Herolike?

Radu:
There is no crafting or customization planned for Herolike.

Jonas TGG
Can you town be attacked by enemies? If so, is that a fun event you can take part in?

Radu:
We don’t have anything planned in this regard. Considering the fact that player loses his hero upon death, we consider that this is enough risk. The town is basically a safe heaven, that is persistent throughout the game.

Hear my battle cry!

Jonas TGG
I saw three other marks on the map that I’m wondering about. One that looked like “gambling”, Can you tell me more about that? Then something called “friendly”. Are friendly other towns you can’t control but can trade with or something? And last, “defense”. Is that something like defending towns?

Radu:
There are 4 types of encounters (aka missions) in total. Hostile encounters means that you will have to attack and survive hordes of enemies while performing some secondary tasks. Friendly encounters represent the moral choices you make in the game. These are down through a dialog interface where the player is informed of the current state issue / situation and he has to choose the best option for him (or the one that morally satisfies him).

Jonas TGG
Do you plan on having a multiplayer option? Or perhaps a whole separate concept of the game that involves multiplayer?

Radu:
We are planning of introducing a co-op version of the game. Not yet sure how this will work, but probably will be close to what Diablo 2 offered: enemies and rewards are scaled based on the number of players.