Warhammer video games have a long history of varying quality. After initially delivering bona fide classics that helped define eras, the brand developed a nasty habit of being slapped onto anything. This, as you would expect, led to a decline in trust in any game with the words ‘Warhammer’ in the title. But much like the tabletop hobby, times change.
After a run of successful, commercially and critically, games, there’s still the niggling feeling that the Age of Sigmar brand has yet to find its footing in the video game realm. Deathmaster might be the game to change that.
Old Skull Games is pushing forward with their Skaven-centric 2d(ish) stealth-puzzle-platformer to become the first Age of Sigmar game worth paying attention to. Playing as a Skaven assassin, you’ll be sneaking, trapping, distracting, and augmenting through the darkest corners of the Skaven world.
Basking in the glory of Warhammer’s best furry boys (sorry, beastmen lovers), Deathmaster presented a tight preview of what the full game has in store in the short preview build. In the 30-or-so minutes of gameplay, the experience’s ideals became abundantly clear. It’s not just a stealth game; it’s more of a stealth-puzzle game, similar to 2012’s Mark of the Ninja.
Hiding in dark corners, lurking within long grass, clambering upon walls. You are, even at the start, a sneaky sort. Admittedly, crawling upside down on ceilings did produce wry smiles as childhood memories of controlling a Xenomorph in Alien Versus Predator 2 came flooding back. Plus, you know, it’s a great use of the Skaven as more than just ‘those rat guys who hang in hordes’ that most games tend to lean into.
The core of the gameplay is a mix of observation, understanding, and planning. Your sneaky Skaven can’t afford to be caught, with a single hit being enough to snuff out your worthless life. It’s not that you’re without weaponry, far from it. Purely being sneaky and avoiding combat was doable, but so was creating accidents for unaware foes, as was sneaking up behind them to snuff them out. It’s the axis each encounter swivels on.
Throwing a stinking piece of rotten meat to lure a guard over, only to open a trapdoor beneath them, is satisfying. But so is snaking past guards or pulling off a daring combination of leaps and jumps. Everything feels smooth, effective, and viable.
Level design encourages exploration and experimentation, with multiple paths to utilize. Some reward the player with resources used to purchase upgrades (sadly there were no upgrades in the build to preview), and others open up to new areas, or to alternative paths.
Part of why everything feels so good is down to how it looks. Old Skull Games have crafted a beautifully grotty vision of the Skavern life. Color palettes breathe a true sense of character into each environment, with gorgeous platforming animations complemented by tonally perfect audio. As a fan of Skavern, Deathmaster nails them. Gutter-running, yattering on, repeating words. They’re perfect.
For what was on offer, it’s hard not to recommend keeping an eye on Deathmaster, even for those who don’t give a crap about Warhammer. This is shaping up to be a fantastic stealth-puzzle-platformer-rat-slasher with tight controls, great level design, and strong replayability.
