Gameplay Features

Gameplay Features

Beginning a preview of Drakan without a mention of its beautifully rendered landscape would be an insult to artistry. The Drakan world is absolutely spectacular, both in scale, detail, and atmosphere. By adding detail to regions of the world that players may never actually even visit, Surreal ensures a far richer, epic game environment, where random exploration may not only hold neat little secrets for those daring adventurers, but are also an integral part of its gameplay. Its fantasy theme also allows for gorgeously realistic, lush environments, including incredible effects such as lava streams and waterfalls, massive spiraling mountains, floating islands, and more - these nice touches make it feels less like a game and more like a living, breathing world.

Not unlike the highly acclaimed fantasy novels by Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time), you'll find out more about the story as you go along. The plot will unfold through a series of quests, sub-quests, and careful interaction with Non-Player Characters, or NPCs. A lot of emphasis was placed on enhancing the game's artificial intelligence (AI), most notably pre-set human behavioral patterns. For example, if a Wartor is on the ground and can't attack Arokh in the air, he'll do as any human would do and book it to the nearest tree cover. Also, much like in Thief: The Dark Project, enemies will recognize sounds and visual cues, where they'll run to investigate strange sounds and will yell for help if they see the player.

While Surreal is stressing the importance of fantasy and role-playing, they do not want it to take away from the overall action. In fact, roughly 70% of the game involves intense action combat, whereas the other 30% consists of brain-teasers, environmental puzzles and traps. This heavy favoritism towards combat sets the stage for some serious blood pumpin' action, and Drakan will not disappoint.

He's Toast

Run away!

Hand-to-hand combat is a given in almost any third-person game, but what makes Drakan stand out is its fierce air-to-air dog - I mean, dragonfighting and enchanting sorcery arsenal. Flight combat will really show off Arokh's prowess, with his (your) ability to perform barrel rolls, quick turns, and dives faster and more fluidly than any other creature. To maintain a robust look and feel of the game, air combat in Drakan will be more akin to an advanced Magic Carpet rather than a flight simulator.

One aspect of Drakan's gameplay I was really concerned with was its ability to provide a smooth transition between ground and air movement. However, Surreal promises it's already tackled this problem. Using a Quake-esque configuration, the "up" and "down" movement of Arokh doubles as Rynn's "jump" and "crouch" actions, respectively. Thus, to land, simply hold the "descend" key (same key as crouch) until you touch the ground. Once on the ground, you have complete control over Arokh, including its movement, strafing, breathing fire, and biting. To dismount, simply press the "descend" key again, at which time you'll be in control of Rynn, using the same controls as the dragon.

What am I looking at?

The most complex issue a developer has to consider in the creation of a third-person game is the game's camera control, and Surreal's got this baby bagged. By going with a fixed camera angle, similar to the likes Quake's Chasecam (but more advanced), Surreal is hoping it will eliminate player disorientation when fighting multiple targets attacking from different directions.