Enslaved and forced to fight in mysterious arenas, the players must survive trial after trial, or face the consequences of their new power mongering master. The more they survive the more they learn about the dreadful purpose of the arenas. Their only ally is their mysterious mentor whose spirit is trapped in an orb. He has no empathy for the weak, yet he often holds the key to success and spiritual growth.

Besides battling the many enemies, the players must work together to control their Spirit Mentor, by calling him to their side, and unleashing the many powers of the ancient shrines. Or use his immaterial essence to bypass obstacles and unlock the devious contraptions of the arenas.

“2 days ago we would have begged anyone for a mere mention of our trailing Kickstarter project - then something happened...”

“I was sitting up late yesterday, struggling yet again with a way to tell the world about our Kickstarter, while part of the team was working hard on our online multiplayer functionality. We had 4 days left on Kickstarter and things weren’t looking good. I then decided to make an image that simply shows the last two years of our lives.” says Steffen Grønning, CEO at BetaDwarf.

This turned out to be a good idea. Within a day BetaDwarf’s Kickstarter for FORCED rocketed past the 100% mark. The image was and is still being shared and more than 150.000 people have seen it already.

“Upon finishing the image I uploaded it to imgur and shared it with a few of my friends. Then most of the team went to bed - tired after a good days work. Some hours later I woke up because my phone was dancing around on the floor, I checked it and I couldn’t keep back a roar of excitement, that woke up the whole team - who cares if it’s 6AM? We’re funded!”, Steffen recounts.

Getting press attention, or really any attention at all, can be a real challenge for a small, unknown, and unproven indie game studio. So sometimes the goal to create something so interesting, that people will want to share it themselves. In the case of the FORCED Kickstarter, all it took, was an image that told the story of the developers, and connected with more than 150.000 persons across the globe.

With funding secured, BetaDwarf can now continue on their journey towards a finished Forced, together with all their newfound backers.

Key Features

• Gladiator Setting: Forced takes place around a smoldering volcano, where the gladiatorial pits have been built to test the resolve of fighters, and entertain the masses.
• High Customization: Each player must not only chose from a multitude of skills, but also look to combine the abilities of their team, to create their unique killing-combo-style. No skill choice is permanent, and the players can freely change both weapon and spec to counter the ever-changing trials.
• The Spirit Mentor: Forced features a completely new and innovative cooperative mechanic, named the Spirit Mentor. It is essentially a player controlled extra party member, with special powers and an ethereal form, which the players must control in unison.
• Big Bad Bosses: The game will feature many boss battles, each designed to test the limits of your skills and creativity.
• Cooperating Monsters: The enemies makes use of a special tactical AI system, which enables them to work together. They will make use of each other, either by enhancing the strength of their allies - or using them as fleshy shields.
• Specially Designed Arenas: Taking place in every setting from the fiery depths of the volcano, to the wind-swept tops; and even in the corrupted glades surrounding the base. All with unique mechanics; such as the all-zapping Life-Ender Beam, or the Choking Mist.
• Transparency: We promise no random values will be used. This means no unlucky rolls and misses in this game. Additionally all ability information will be available to help you create the perfect gladiator.
• Cooperative Combat System: Forced features a new co-op mechanic named marks, which allows all players to place a mark on an enemy, enhancing the strength of any one of theirs' abilities against that target. Furthermore, players’ attacks deliver a certain amount of knockback and often players must time and combine their attacks to knock down a big enemy before he regains his balance.