Arkheron Preview – A Promising Battle Royale (No, Seriously)

Arkheron is a battle royale – stay with me – but that’s the least interesting aspect of it. It is also an isometric PvP action game that feels like a shooter with Hades-like elements. I know this is a barrage of fancy keywords and descriptors, and the honest truth is that Arkheron is such a unique mix of mechanics that it feels easiest to introduce it like that. Developed by Bonfire Studios and set to launch this year, Arkheron puts 15 teams of three players against each other in a dark fantasy tower. The winner is the last team standing on the top floor of this foreboding tower, and though I struggled to even reach that final floor in my two-hour hands-on digital preview, I’m looking forward to hopping into the game’s demo (that goes live tomorrow as part of the February Steam Next Fest). 

There is a lore to the world of Arkheron, but admittedly, it’s not what you should play the game for – you just need to know that you control a mystical avatar (that can be customized with various options) who uses the weapons and gear of Eternals, god-like beings whose loot you have access to as you climb the aforementioned tower. Though Bonfire Studios’ leadership remained mum when asked about post-launch progression, seasonal updates, and the like during a Q/A roundtable, Arkheron will feature a rotating 10 Eternals out of the 12 in the game when it launches later this year. That’s important because each of the Eternals utilizes different types of weapons, from ranged to mid-range to up-close melee, and other pieces of gear like amulets and crowns that feature stat-boosting benefits (and when you use two or more pieces of loot from the same Eternal, you receive a game-changing set bonus, encouraging you to seek out matching gear). 

As different Eternal gear sets rotate in and out of Arkheron’s live mix of loot, which is found within chests scattered throughout the tower’s various dungeon-esque floors and dropped by the AI-controlled mob enemies you encounter, so, too, will your tactics to come out on top. I like that this rotation of gear means no meta will last forever, and that experimentation is somewhat forcefully encouraged. While set bonuses don’t extend or expand beyond what you receive when equipping two pieces of Eternal-specific loot, kitting out your avatar with a complete Eternals set – so four pieces – will allow you to unleash an ultimate-like ability that transforms you into that Eternal with increased damage, health, and more. 

Arkheron does a great job of encouraging you and your teammates to look out for each other, as marking beneficial gear someone else in your trio needs is easy. Plus, if a teammate stumbles upon a piece of equipment someone on their team already has, they can interact with it to upgrade that teammate’s item, like a sword, to the next tier of rarity and power. It’s a nice step beyond the typical battle royale formula, where you simply call out enticing loot, yielding to everyone in the trio the ability to enhance a teammate’s prowess in combat. 

Though the viewpoint is isometric, the camera actually rotates around your character, meaning your on-screen reticle feels less like targeting an enemy in Diablo and more like a third-person shooter. Your attacks go where the reticle is, though you’ll need to account for the range of your attacks and abilities. I thoroughly enjoyed this approach to combat, as it turns what appears to be bog-standard PvP action combat into something a bit sweatier, like a third- or first-person shooter. Once the action against another player begins, mashing buttons will likely get you nowhere, especially when it’s time to move up to the next floor. To do this, you must enter a circular room of sorts and survive until it teleports you up; however, only one team gets to advance per circular room, so moving to the next floor up means a chaotic but strategic dance against another trio. 

With the walls closing in on you via a magical storm of sorts, and environmental hazards including giant worm-like demon beings, what starts as a 3v3 fight quickly grows into something that requires immense teamwork. The winning trio is the one that uses all abilities, attacks, and positioning to their best advantage, ignoring the instinctive urge to mash buttons when things get hectic. 

Two hours is not enough time to gauge the impact that yet another battle royale, however unique, will make in an already crowded genre. But, it is enough to tell you that, as someone who can easily blow off new entries to the overstuffed field, I will not be doing that with Arkheron. It feels different in a sea of battle royales (usually shooters), taking the aesthetics of something like Diablo, mixing it with the run-based looting of Hades, and adding in 44 other players to create an explosive spin on PvP.