It’s a month from an Early Access release, and its development, mostly handled by one man, is still being refined. But if I had to name a Most Inspired Labor of Love game for 2022, this would have to be it We who will dieby Jordy Lakiere.
What Lakiere describes as a “criminal underutilized” setting and subject—ancient Rome! gladiator fight! – finds a perfect foothold in a very popular genre, the roguelike or roguelite, which has really resonated with independent developers. What really sets it apart here is the Belgian developer’s strong focus on gameplay systems, with the game’s landscape and other aesthetics serving those systems, not the other way around. This required von Lakiere, who trained primarily as an artist and animator, to expand and evolve over his seven years as a game developer We who will die is in the making.
“Roguelikes are known for their difficulties,” Lakiere said in an email interview. “I think an ‘implacable gladiatorial game’ sounds like a good hook line too. The title sums up the mood perfectly – die we who are there die. When you’re sent to the pits, you can do your best, but basically you’re already dead.”
Launching into Early Access on November 14th, Steam User Reviews are very positive, and for good reason. Instead of a linear story of a single hero venturing through lush landscapes, We who will die plays for stakes from the first match.
Real gladiators, of course, play with permadeath turned on, and that’s what you’re running into We who will die, also. Players must think tactically, break through their opponent’s stance, keep moving and maintain their defense. Lose a match and you lose your character, no matter how long your run lasted. This is a roguelite, after all.
“Beyond that, there’s something absolutely magical about permadeath,” Lakiere said. “It changes gameplay; suddenly there are real stakes. You become emotionally invested in this character, this story that only you have experienced, and you can lose it forever.
Disclosure: I love Gladiatorial combat as a video game type. Yes, I had the well-recognized LucasArts sword for Xbox then; I also had Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance and Circus Maximus (Gladiators and Run?! I’m fanning myself). Lakiere cut his teeth in game development at the age of 14 when he created mods for Mount & Blade, a series known for fidelity in its hand-to-hand combat. He counts that as inspiration, plus the gladiator games I’ve enjoyed, plus others ranging from Spartan: Total warrior to spelunky and its continuation.
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But most importantly, Lakiere didn’t want to repeat games he already liked. His modding resume prompted him to enroll in university to further his career, primarily through an art and animation path. He had worked as a freelance artist to pay his bills for six years, but became creatively restless because he hadn’t developed his own game.
“I was wondering what the simplest wrapper around an interesting combat system that reduces scope so I can do it alone?” he said. “I remember laying on the couch brainstorming and actually having one of those cliche ‘eureka’ moments,” he said. “The core loop is combat, the arenas are limited scope, turn-based combat. Back then roguelikes and roguelites were very hot and I had the realization – Gladiator Roguelite
That inspiration is reinforced by the fact that the gladiator genre has been mostly AWOL since 2013’s middle ground Ryse: son of Rome. “It’s a universally popular setting among gamers (or so I thought),” said Lakiere, “and is woefully underutilized, like many fans of it WWATD have mentioned.”
We who will die has some rough edges to be sure. The animations and reactions are noticeably repetitive and not always smooth. It’s also a difficult game; Players really need to focus on adding momentum to their shots, and those experienced in Mount & Blade will pick up the flow quicker than others who might be expecting a button-pushing hack-and-slash. all that said We who will die is admittedly a work in progress, with an ambitious content roadmap.
It also got off to a strong start in leading Lakiere to seriously staff a development studio for the game. He hasn’t done the entire seven-year project alone so far – some contractors have helped with the game’s components – but WWATDThe first month exceeded his expectations “by 20 times,” Lakiere said. “And the drop in sales is a lot smaller than expected – a really healthy tail so far.”
“So it makes a lot of sense to take the plunge and finally move away from solo development,” Lakiere continued. “The immediate goals are debugging, adding content and some peripheral functions, besides the behind-the-scenes company stuff. […] More randomness, more items, levels, background stories [for the cast of Aspirants, as the gladiators are called].” Controller support is a big goal, as is optimizing the game for Steam Deck. Lakiere hopes to have both completed by early 2023.
but we who will die at least the basics seem to be in place. There’s a rock-paper-scissors aspect to the matchmaking: shield-and-spear fighters are great all-rounders, while two-handed ax fighters are slower but break through defenses faster. “They’re a bit like glass cannons,” Lakiere said, “and smart players can make sure they have a spear to get through [them].”
We who will die saw its first major title update on December 7th and it’s currently 20% off through January 5th. It is available on Steam for Windows PC.
