Mordheim: City of the Damned Preview

By Marcus Jones Posted on July 14, 2014

Mordheim: City of the Damned is the upcoming turn-based RPG strategy game by the folks at Rogue Factor. Fans of Warhammer Fantasy unite, the game is set within the titular city of Mordheim, long after a comet struck and turned most of the city to ruins. The comet, originally thought to be a herald of the god Sigmar, ended up obliterating the majority of the city and leaving behind precious metals and other materials in its wake. Roving bands of those remaining in the city, including ones coming to Mordheim just for the pieces of star-metal, are left to duke it out in the ruins.

Getting down into the dirty ruins of the city, you take on the role of one of four groups vying for control in the city: the Sisters of Sigmar, a religious order that managed to eke out an existence post-comet, human mercenaries, only there for a piece of the golden pie, the Cult of Tzeentch, a horribly mutant cult praying to a dark god, and lastly the Skaven, a collection of ratmen who seek out the comet’s leftovers to power their war effort.

These four groups (with potential plans for further additions later on) duke it out on randomly generated maps within Mordheim. The game plays like a strategy RPG; you will be maneuvering your characters around the map in an effort to gain the upper hand and brutally take on your opponents. There will be special skills, like summoning comets down onto them, but there will also be the general melee attacks as well.

Aside from combat, the map as well is a giant arena for you to explore. Players will be able to find hidden treasures, traps, and more throughout the map during gameplay. Traps and other things can also be laid in advance, helping to prevent enemies from sneaking up on you on the large and winding battle maps.

Character progression is another neat thing. Your band of misfits will continue to grow and level up throughout the game, but any war scars they earn during battle will carry over throughout the rest of the game. If they are blinded mid-battle, they will never regain their sight. This mechanic affects a character’s effectiveness as well, meaning characters that lose limbs or suffer enough damage become less and less able to participate in battle.

Battle damage or not, you’ll be able to take your band of warriors through both a single-player campaign and online against other players. While there was no mention of any sort of multiplayer campaign, there will be ranked and exhibition battles players will be able to participate in.

Mordheim: City of the Damned is expected to hit shelves either late Q4 2014 or early 2015.