One hundred years ago, human race almost extinguished. Since that time, only a few survivors remain and fight for their lives. You are one of them. Find resources, items, allies and exploit the powers of the Umbra to survive. But be careful, you are their prey...

Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem is an open world action-RPG taking place in a corrupted world that is falling apart. You are a former soldier, forced to flee the death penalty because of your magic powers. Being tracked down by humans and hunted by the monsters of the Wild, you are recruited by a mysterious group of Templars, and thus your epic adventure begins.

Join this dynamic hack’n’slash and its fast-paced combat based on weapon combos. There are no class restrictions, you can choose your path as you level-up and play your character the way you want. The environment will react to your actions and the elemental based spells you might use to vanquish your enemies. Soon, co-op will be added, and players will be able to combine spells to create chain reactions, in order to overcome greater challenges.

There will also be a unique mechanic called Apocalyptic Form that allows players to shapeshift into a devastating form, adapted to your play-style. Dodge, dash, hack, slash, and unleash fury on your foes!

Early Access Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem has closed its Alpha and moved to Gameplay Beta on March 28, 2019.

For this version, everything has been remade to make it compatible with Multiplayer features and improve drastically optimization and the game quality.

"We're planning regular hotfixes and content patch to implement new game modes, fix bugs, and improve balancing. This Gameplay Beta represents the majority of the work we have done this last year to fit our ambitions for Wolcen. We are now moving forward with the work needed to finish Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem and release the game, although we have no date to communicate yet for the final release," said Wolcen Studio.

With the Gameplay Beta release comes a price increase for Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem. On the confirmed date of the Gameplay Beta release, the game will be available for 29.99€. Purchasing it then will, of course, still grant you access to the Gameplay Beta and the full release of the game.

"Along with the Gameplay Beta release comes all the work we’ve done this last year to make this improved and ambitious version: Multiplayer, new environments, new characters, new animations, new skills and skill variants, new items, monsters, and new game modes with various difficulties for all kinds of tastes in challenges. We worked a lot to polish this awesome gameplay and offer you the best player experience and game quality."

The Gameplay Beta is planned to have regular updates, both for hotfixes and for content, all these will be tracked on the roadmap and announced through news. Also, as announced previously, the Gameplay Beta will not have the campaign mode implemented. However, you will be able to meet with Wolcen’s universe through the lore added on various elements (uniques, skills…).

GENERAL:

• It’s a new game.
• There are too many changes to detail them all so here’s a basic rundown of the most important elements.
• Multiplayer is now implemented. You can create a party or join an existing one, with up to 3 other players.
• You can now use the matchmaking to start a public game session with unknown players around the world.
• WolcenTag added, it gives you a unique tag separated from Steam to be added as a friend.
• FriendList added to allow party invitations and private messages. Friends are directly imported from your Steam friends list if they own the game.
• In-game chat added to allow communication between players of a same party in the game, or to friends. The chat supports party and private messages.
• A direct-news system has been added to broadcast important messages to live game sessions within the chat window.
• Camera rotation has been disabled, allowing us to create higher quality visuals, better readability and improved performance.
• Housing, the arena, daily dungeons, character customization (including female) and leaderboards are now temporarily disabled. These features will come back at a later date.
• You can now select a starting archetype when creating a character. This will only give you default weapon and starting skill, and won't force you to stick to particular gameplay during the rest of your progression.

VISUALS:

• Every aspect of the game’s visuals have been remade from scratch with much higher quality standards.
• New rim-shader on monsters and player to improve the readability in dark environments.
• Ragdolls physics has been improved.

UI:

• Revamped main menu.
• The Active Skills window has been revamped to fit the new Skills design.
• You can now filter skills from their weapon requirements in the Active Skills window.
• The Character Sheet UI has been reworked a bit to fit the new attributes design.

QUESTS:

• The game now features the Soldier of Fortune mode. (detailed below)

TECHNICAL:

• Very strong optimizations have been done. The game runs much more smoothly now.

AUDIO:

• Many new sound effects have been added.
• A complete Original Soundtrack is being recorded for the game, from which several tracks can already be listened to.
• Each enemy type can now have a random voice variation.
• Sound specialization has been reworked.
• On-hit sounds (ex: skill impact sounds) are now correctly positioned in space.
• Final-hit sounds are now mixed differently depending on the hit intensity.
• Enemies now have different impact sounds given their skin type (flesh, metal, etc.).

ENVIRONMENT:

• The game now features completely new environments from the re-defined world of Wolcen.
• Level Design has been significantly improved and should provide a better player experience as well as increased replay value.
• Random dungeons generation has been overhauled, following strict level design rules
• New player hub: Stormfall’s palace district. Discover the upper ring of the majestic city-state of Stormfall, Jewel of the sea.

GAMEPLAY:

Soldier of Fortune mode

• Players can now partake in bounty-hunting activities across random areas from act 1 of the game.
• “Dashing” Eugene will teach you the ropes with contracts of increasing difficulty, for a balanced experience.
• After reaching level 15, talk to Alexander Ivakin. He will give you access to harder dungeons where monster spawns are shuffled. You cannot go back to town in those missions, but killing the boss will give you the option to go further and increase your potential reward or return to Stormfall to collect it. Success will unlock even harder challenges, which increases the potential rewards.
  
  General changes
• When your health reaches zero, your character will now go into a “down but not out” stance. In multiplayer, other players are able to revive you for a limited amount of time. If you are playing in single player, pressing space will use a “second wind” token and bring you back on your feet. You only have a limited number of second wind tokens, so be careful!
• Health regeneration rate is now based on a frequency stored in the player characteristics.
• The Defense mechanic has been removed.
• Mage and Rogue armors pieces now provide Force Shield. FS acts as barrier that needs to be depleted before your Health can be damaged. Once depleted, FS will start recharging rapidly after not taking any hit for a few seconds.
• Character attributes have been revamped.
• Dodge-rolling now operates with a fixed distance and direction.
• A very subtle hit-lag has been added to most powerful attacks to increase the impact feeling.
• Shield-block has been revamped and has now a chance to trigger a raw damage-reduction on all hits, regardless of the attack direction.
• Shields can now have either a damage resistance value or a force shield value as their main attribute.
• Resistance formula has been revamped in favor of a system that relies on a higher points pool.
  
  Weapon changes
• Every weapon stance has a new reworked combo animation.
• You can now combine a melee weapon and a pistol for a hybrid melee/range style. Holding shift will allow continuous fire of the pistol.
• You can now combine a pistol and shield to turn it into a shotgun-style short range weapon.
• Crossbows have been removed as a weapon type.
• Staves attacks now always do baseline physical damage.
• Attack speed is not displayed in weapons tooltips as it is not used anymore.
• Allowed skill casting now depends on your weapon configuration. Mix and match weapon type to enable hybrid gameplay, or focus on more classic archetypes.
• New Stances (animation and game effects):
  
  • One Handed Melee (1H Sword, 1H Axe, 1H Axe, Dagger, 1H Hammer)
  • Dual Wield : One Handed Melee x2
  • One Handed Melee + Shield (allowing to use melee and tank skills)
  • One Handed Melee + Pistol (allowing to use melee and several ranged skills). Default attacks are melee, using both weapons. Press Shift + Attack to perform ranged attacks with pistol.
  • One Handed Melee + Catalyst (allowing to use melee and mage spells)
  • One Handed Ranged + Catalyst (allowing to use a ranged weapon and mage spells)
  • Two Handed Sword
  • Two Handed Axe
  • Two Handed Hammer
  • Bow
  • Pistol
  • Dual Pistol
  • Pistol + Shield (Short range “shotgun”)
  • Staff
• New Damage Types, divided in 3 families:
  
  • Material:
    
    • Physical
    • Toxic - can inflict Poison, dealing damage over time.
    • Rend - can inflict Bleeding, dealing damage over time.
  • Elemental:
    
    • Fire - can inflict burning, dealing damage over time and burning nearby enemies.
    • Frost - can Freeze enemies.
    • Lightning - can inflict Shock, which zaps enemies that are also Shocked.
  • Occult:
    
    • Sacred - can inflict Weakness, which reduces enemy resistances and damage.
    • Shadow - can inflict Shaded which allows other ailment to spread.
    • Aether - can inflict Stasis which slows all actions.
• New unique Damage Type visual effects for each weapons and shields, including weapon trails, projectile tracers, impacts and criticals.
  
  Status Ailments changes
• The effects of the Weakness and Frailty have been merged into a single ailment. Weakness increases damage taken and decreases inflicted damage by the afflicted entity, and has a chance to proc by Sacred damage.
• The effects of Shock have been changed from an AoE on proc to a low damage-over-time effect that has a chance to trigger additional damage between all allies affected by shock.
• Burning now has chance to burn enemies in a certain radius around the target.
  
  Potion changes
• Consuming a potion now requires charges. Those charges are refilled by killing monsters.
• There is now two potion slots.
• Using a potion is now a full active action.

MONSTERS

• A completely new roster of monsters now populate the world of the game, and almost each of them packs unique abilities. Fight against three factions with a completely distinct feel: the primal ‘Svriirs’, the cruel ‘Wildling Flayers’, and the eerie ‘Cult of the Sleeper’.
• The game now uses a content management system, which ensures that monsters spawns are spread and balanced across an entire dungeon. In the future, this system will affect other systems like destroyable placements.
• Monsters can now have a frozen-status cooldown, to avoid them being frozen permanently.
• New enemy: Demon of Souls (Elite, 5+ skills)
• New enemy: Devourer (Elite, 5+ skills)
• New enemy: Specter. (Specialist, 2+ skills)
• New enemy: Soul Spawn. (Specialist, 2+ skills)
• New enemy: Tormentor. (Specialist, 2+ skills)
• New enemy: Raised Martyr. (Specialist, 2+ skills)
• New enemy: Frost Martyr. (Specialist, 2+ skills)
• New enemy: Frost Tormentor. (Specialist, 2+ skills)
• New enemy: Forsaken.
• New enemy: Shadow Spawn.
• New enemy: Abyssal Spawn.
• New enemy: Nightmare.
• New enemy: Anomaly.
• New enemy: Deathcloak.
• New enemy: Husk. (+ several visual variants)
• New enemy: Frozen Husk. (+ several visual variants)
• New enemy: Armored Husk.
• New enemy: Tainted Primordial Guardian.(Elite, 5+ skills)
• New enemy: Tainted Primordial Armor. (Specialist, 2+ skills)
• New enemy: Svriir Alpha. (Elite, 5+ skills)
• New enemy: Beta Spawner. (Specialist, 2+ skills)
• New enemy: Beta Screecher. (Specialist, 2+ skills)
• New enemy: Beta Spitter. (Specialist, 2+ skills)
• New enemy: Misshaped Infected.
• New enemy: Misshaped Svriir.
• New enemy: Misshaped Mangler.
• New enemy: Omega Svriir.
• New enemy: Svriirling.
• New enemy: Sadistic Thug. (Elite, 5+ skills)
• New enemy: Staggerer. (Specialist, 2+ skills)
• New enemy: Saper. (Specialist, 2+ skills)
• New enemy: Kennel Master. (Specialist, 2+ skills)
• New enemy: Bandit Dog.
• New enemy: War Hound.
• New enemy: Raider.
• New enemy: Archer.

ITEMS

• All items have been revamped, and most of them have new high quality visuals.
• Left and right shoulder armors are now a single item that can be placed to both left and right slots, like rings. The visual of the item will adapt to which side it is equipped in. The same change applies to arm armors.
• 28 unique items have been added, each with a unique combination of powers that can inspire different playstyles.
• You can now equip Catalysts. These off-hand caster items allow hybrid players to cast magical spells.
• Skill Tomes have been replaced by Enneracts to fit the lore of the game. You can still right click to learn their associated skill.
• Every piece of armor now gives two defense stats, one primary and one secondary: Heavy armors provide ‘all resistance score’ and ‘health’, warrior armors ‘health’ and ‘all resistance score’, rogue armors ‘health’ and ‘force shield’, mage armors provide ‘force shield’ and ‘health’.
• Gems do not have item-level requirements anymore.

AFFIXES:

• Itemization has been remade and overhauled. A new set of effects can roll on items, and their distribution has been improved.
• Gem sockets are generated in addition to items affixes instead of taking their places.
• Magic-find has been refactored to improve its impact on rare loot drops.

PASSIVE SKILLS:

• The Passive Skill Tree has been entirely remade. The first ring now holds three classes, the second six, and the third will hold twelve, for a total of 21 classes. The gameplay beta features the first 9 classes.
• You can now travel sideways between two classes of same ring, starting at the second ring.
• Each class gives you access to two subsequent trees, although you can still rotate the PST to change these two trees.
• Classes have been streamlined and navigating the trees should be easier.

ACTIVE SKILLS:

• The game now features a new selection of skills with a much higher quality standard in design, effects and animation:
  
  • Arrows Wail
  • Havoc Orb
  • Anvil's Woe
  • Thunderstrike
  • Mark of Impurity
  • Slayer's Flurry
  • Consuming Embers
  • Tear of Etheliel
  • Arctic Spear
  • Winter's Grasp
  • Tracker's Reach
  • Bleeding Edge
  • Annihilation
  • Wings of Ishmir
  • Bulwark of Dawn
  • Stings of Krearion
  • Aether Jump
  • Sovereign Shout
• Each skill have 4 variants in the Beta. Full game will feature 10 to 20 variants per Skill.
• You can now select and activate any skill modifier provided you have enough points and that the modifier has been unlocked.
• Signature skills have been removed.
• There is now five skill slots available.

MISC:

• Every major passive node, skill, skill variant and unique item now has a lore description, giving you insights into the world of Wolcen.
• Umbra (as the resource) is now called Willpower.
• Umbra (as the damage type) is now called Aether.

Game Features :

• Dynamic combat system: fast-paced combat system with weapon-based combos and charged attacks. Dodge, Dash, Hack, Slash and unleash devastating spells on your enemies!
• Tons of Loot: Weapons, Armor, Potions and randomly generated magic effects for more gameplay diversity.
• Complex AI: All the enemies have various skills and patterns. Defeating a Boss is a real phased challenge you will only defeat with strategy.
• Active skill tree: Skills gain experience with your character and you can combine modifiers as you level up, so your skill is always unique.
• Weapon combo system : each weapon has its own game style, including various gameplay effects and animations.
• Free character development: No class limitation. You have three resources: Rage and Umbra interact with each other, using Resource Opposition System. Stamina allows you to dodge-roll.
• Rotating Passive Skills Tree: A deep and innovative way to customize your play style!
• Custom player: choose your gender and customize your character, skin color, hair, beard, eyes etc.
• Mature story* full of secrets to discover exploring the world.
• Randomly Generated Dungeons for infinite replayability.
• Element-based spells will react to the environment and to other active elements in the area. For example, lightning will spread in water and stun targets; Fire will spread unless water or frost gets in the way, etc.
• Multiplayer mode*: Co-Op/Multiplayer.
• Apocalyptic Form*: According to your play style, you will develop special powers for your character, changing their abilities and look. A fire caster will have their skin turn into lava and heal from fire. Even wings and horns might appear depending on your talents!
• Housing: Create your own house and proudly showcase your special gear!
• Asymmetric Armor System: We love asymmetric armor, and we want you to be able to customize your gear down to the finest details! You will be able to equip different shoulders and arm protection on the left and right side of your character, bringing a great number of personalization options!
• Pets*: Have your own special companion to gather loots and golds, with the possibility to use a loot filter so your pet will only take what you want.
• Gear customization: You will be able to customize your gear to look the way you want.