Behemoth: Rise of Shadow
Journey through Earth, rescue wild animals and protect the Behemoth from the silicon dust.
Behemoth is an immersive co-operative adventure for 1 to 5 players and with 60 minutes playtime. We are planning to launch it on Gamefound in late 2024.
The game
The game has an engaging, strategic yet simple gameplay: you play cards to move across the world and activate abilities, and use dice to rescue animals.
You can shape your luck! Plan carefully for certain success when rolling dice or take your chances. At any point, hop on top of the Behemoth and bring to safety the rescued animals to safety.
At the end of each day, choose animal citizens from Behemoth city to join you in your adventure, by acquiring new cards and building your deck.
The lore
In year 2030, a deep excavation project cut through some thick layers of silicon stones. This released big quantities of silicon dust into the atmosphere, causing human technology to malfunction and fostering over time the growth of silicon hybrid organisms.
It started with Icelandic microbes, then shadow fungi proliferated. When ingested, these fungi makes animals stronger and smarter, thanks to the new ability to synthetise carbon-silicon bonds. We are now in year 2265. Some humans live together with other animals on top of Behemoth, a majestic rhino carrying a castle on its top.
Behemoth wanders through the world, connecting some otherwise isolated cities and eating giant mushroom trees to get bigger and more resilient to silicon dust. Players take the role of rangers who are tasked with rescuing wild beasts and restoring remains of past civilization, while protecting the Behemoth.
An immersive experience
While journeying through the map, you will travel across forests, lakes and deserts, discovering some real world breath-taking landmarks.
Between one rescue and the other, you will spend some time on top of Behemoth. Here you will immerse yourself in the happy mood of a bustling futuristic city, where humans and animals live closely together in a much more evolved society than what we had in the 2000s.
All of the above, with the occasional oddities coming from living on top of a giant rhino!
Gameplay: living an adventure
If we had to compare Behemoth to a movie, it would be something in between Indiana Jones and Seven - mixing adventure, with some strategic planning and reading what's happening around you.
Like in a good thriller, you will have to think and collaborate to plan your moves and respond to the game, which adapts to what you do. Like in an epic adventure movie with escalating action, the closer the Behemoth gets to the mushroom tree, the more dangerous it gets
Focus on mechanics
One highlight of the game is the ability to choose different strategies with the tension of a game that adapts to it.
You can specialize your dice pools and skill cards on one terrain. This will make your party stronger at following certain strategies over others:
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Forest-aligned skills are focused on restoring nature and clearing shadow
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Water-focused skills are adaptable and quick to respond
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Desert-native skills are all about journeying and exploration
But you will have to find the right balance while specializing! Nyx, the natural phenomenon causing silicon life to spread, tracks what you do and reacts accordingly.
The more you focus on one terrain, the more dice of that colour you will lose to Nyx bag. At night time, you will draw from the bag and Nyx will use information from the colours drawn to drive her response.
Coming to Gamefound
The game is under active development, and we are currently planning to launch it on Gamefound in 2024 (original plan was to launch on Kickstarter).
I need your support to make it happen! Help me create and explore this amazing new world.
If what you read piqued your interest, make sure to subscribe to the newsletter to get updates, access to previews and participate on some art and story choices!
If you are curious about the nitty gritty details of game development, you can follow the work in progress through the design diary, where I document my progress towards achieving some target experience goals I set my self.
If you want to be involved and support us in our journey:
Thanks for reading!
Andrea