Hellenica has all of the expected trappings of a SRPG/Tactics experience when it comes to combat mechanics: facing modifiers, height bonuses, buffs and debuffs, heal spells, and more. On top of that, we've also included a number of ways to manipulate the battlefield.
Pushing and Tossing
Here's a gif showing some push examples using Diona's Maul skill. Maul deals a decent amount of damage and pushes the target up to 3 spaces:
You can see that Diona will push targets up or down as long as the incline's not too steep.
If the target hits a part of the environment that's 2+ blocks tall or runs into another target, they will cause a collision! This will deal some damage to the target in the case of the wall collision, or split that damage equally between the pushed target and the collision target.
In general, you can use all of Hellenica's manipulation skills on any target: enemies, allies, or obstacles like barrels and pots. Your allies won't be damaged by the damage portion of the skill, but they may still take collision or fall damage, so be careful!
Another type of manipulation skill is a toss. Here's Makarios making good use of his toss to eject a pirate:
Tosses differ from pushes in that they can pass over other targets and environment obstacles, assuming they aren't too tall. Although they don't typically do damage directly, they can be used to clear paths, set up clusters of enemies for AoE attacks, or send an enemy onto an environmental hazard as seen above.
Dealing Damage
So, with this in mind, now you're thinking to yourself: "Hmm, so pushing enemies to expose their flanks or tossing an ally out of danger seems helpful, but I want to do some damage..."
Here's the simple approach: send them tumbling for fall damage!
Characters will take damage if they fall from a height greater than three blocks. So with a cleverly-executed push or toss, you can make the environment do damage for you.
Things get even more interesting when you push a barrel or toss an ally onto an enemy. We call this a bounce. Friend and foe alike will take bounce damage if they're on the receiving end, though the character doing the bouncing won't.
In general, characters with heavier defenses are heavier, and that means more bounce damage when they land on someone's head.
Once a character starts bouncing, they will keep bouncing until they land on an empty space. As you might imagine, this can lead to some pretty impactful turns...
Who knew bears were so useful?
Hazards and Traps
Even though there's plenty of fun to be had rolling barrels down a ramp of enemy pirates and bouncing rebel Spartans off each other, we can do even better.
Eventually those bouncing tin cans will have to land somewhere, so why not have them land on hot steam exhaust or crushing mechanical gearworks?
Many of the levels in Hellenica are studded with environmental features that you can use to your advantage. Even if you don't, your enemies might, so it's important to at least be aware of the possibilities!
In addition to permanent features of the level, there are also a number of skills that will create traps that can be exploited.
Here's a shot of the effects of one of Scylax's fire abilities:
Everytime a character touches a burning space, they'll take magic damage. Knock a heavy enemy back and forth a couple times, and he'll have a pretty bad day.
Other times enemy characters will lay traps of their own, but if you're clever you can make them hit themselves:
Oof.
Hopefully this series has given you a taste of how Hellenica's combat differs from other SRPG's. I can't wait to see what crazy combos you set up once the game's in your hands.
If you're interested, check out our launch trailer below, and head over and wishlist the game on Hellenica's steam page to help make our launch a success. We really appreciate it!
