A deep dive into the mechanics that drive the world in Void Arena.

TL;DR: I Probably shouldn’t say something like “if you wanted to play an elder’s scrolls game in the first person with PVP and a Diablo Style combat and loot system” you know… for legal reasons., so let’s pretend I didn’t say that and start over. So.. If you want to play a first person ARPG with friendly and not friendly multiplayer and a really cool story, then read on and see if the world of Kynn peaks your interests, otherwise, you can continue to read for all sorts of reasons, don’t let me stop you!

Over the last few weeks I have gotten many questions about the different mechanics that drive the world in “Void Arena”. I wanted to take some time to type up some details so that that there is a central place to point people who are looking for information. In this post I will outline what the game is, what the player’s goals are, how it works and what you can expect when you enter the world of Kynn. If you are interested in furthering the development of Void Arena please consider supporting us via Kickstarter or by wish listing on Steam.

VOID Arena is a Multiplayer First Person, Action/Adventure RPG with a focus on fast paced combat, immersive storytelling, and customization allowing players to blaze their own trails. You will take control of your own destiny in a four-act cinematic campaign that will decide the fate of a dying world. Each choice you make will shape the world around you. Choosing one of three races will define your character, how and where their story begins, as well as how they will interact with the world.

“At it’s core, VOID Arena is a classic ARPG Experience wrapped in a first person perspective.”

Your adventure will start in one of three major cities: Sylvannar (Half-Elf), a struggling new colony for the least wanted of society, Kel’Druu (Dwarf), an underground dwarven mining city with a dark under belly, & Ban Yakoi (Human), a place once teeming with riches and wealth, now is little more than a barren wasteland. Once your character progresses through the introductory quest, you will gain access to the Sanctuary as well as all the abilities in the game and your first set of Legendary Armor. At this point it is up to you whether you want to progress your character through the story or try something else. Progress in the story will unlock both new areas of the map and unique loot and can always be played with friends. If you have already finished the story or if a story narrative is not your cup of tea, you can travel to either the Arena or The Wilderness for some PVP Action. The Arena can be entered with friends or solo, The Wilderness is a unique gameplay mode that combines PVP & PVE requiring you to collect 3 different books to escape with your life and your loot. Lastly, if you are seeking a challenge and are in need of some loot or crafting materials your best bet might be opening one of the two types of rifts.

The ultimate goal in VOID Arena is to bring balance back to the world by restoring the grace that it once had, or to find and keep it for yourself and be the eternal ruin of all. Delve into perilous dungeons, loot legendary items, create your own builds to decide the fate of a dying world.

“Delve into perilous dungeons, loot legendary items, create your own builds to decide the fate of a dying world.”

Choose 6 active abilities and 4 passive abilities from a seemingly endless pool of magic & physical skills. With 180+ different skills in the works you could probably guess that one of our key pillars is “build diversity”. Combat in Void Arena is varied depending on the build that you choose. Some builds are slow and deal with single enemies well, others thrive on being surrounded by hordes of enemies enjoying healthy buffs for being in the thick of battle. Others yet can take advantage of speed or ranged combat. One thing that is always guaranteed is fearsome foes wielding tricky abilities and having both strengths and weaknesses. It is not only monsters that will be hunting you however, you will always have to be looking over your shoulder for other players, even when outside of the wilderness or arena (this can be avoided by creating a private game).

Combat is designed to be iterative, allowing for players to experiment over and over again. In Void Arena you are free to try any combination of abilities whenever you like, although sometimes it might be smart to shift builds entirely when you stumble across an amazing new legendary item…

“You will not be restricted by classes or skill trees, all characters will have access to the entire roster of abilities.”

Skills all have a type(Holy, Fire, Cold, Nature, Void), some have a resource cost and others generate resource others can also have a cooldown. By default, movement is WASD and skills are bound to the commonly used RMB, LMB, Q, E, R and SHFT, these inputs can be changed at any time from the settings menu. Abilities can do many things including: Direct Damage, AOE Damage, DOT (damage over time), Direct healing, AOE Healing, HOT (heat over time), Crowd Controlling, Buffing, De-buffing and summoning a minion.

“inputs can be changed at any time from the settings menu.”

If you would like to see the combat in action you can to watch some good ole minion slaying here: (WARNING: early alpha gameplay footage)

If you want to see a more drawn out boss battle you can watch that here: (WARNING: early alpha gameplay footage)

Combat in Void Arena is varied depending on the build that you choose.

Loot in VOID Arena is the underlying system that supports progression in the game. While there is no obvious leveling system in the game, the most impactful versions of items will only drop in higher difficulties. Players benefit from a background loot program that will ensure you having a good chance at getting the items that you need, along with a random chance to get almost any items in the game. Items come in varying rarities: Common, Uncommon, Legendary, Artifact & Grand Artifact.

Items can drive stats such as damage, defense, resistances and elemental bonuses. Some special items can also directly affect the way that skills work. This effect can be as simple as adding extra damage to completely replacing the skills with a new ability.

Loot comes in two major varieties SOULBOUND and UNBOUND. One of the core pillars of Void Arena is “semi permanent death” and specifically this means that when you die, you will always drop all items that are unbound. Unbound items can be found in the world and wilderness as well as in rifts. These items can be dropped, for other players to recover or can be traded directly. Soulbound items are earned by doing quests or by defeating certain enemies and bosses within the world. Soulbound items, unlike Unbound items are bound to your character, they cannot be traded, will de destroyed when dropped and cannot be used by any of your other characters.

“Soulbound items, unlike Unbound items are bound to your character, they cannot be traded, will de destroyed when dropped and cannot be used by any of your other characters.”

The World of Kynn is dying. Only by restoring the scattered pieces of “Grace” can the world be stopped from slipping to it’s end. This age could be the last the world will see, or will it be the beginning of something new… Once all 7 Pieces of Grace are restored the Evil that befalls this land can be summoned and destroyed, breathing life back into an otherwise Dying World.

Each marker on the world map represents an area that can be visited. By completing the story, new areas will be unlocked. These areas will be important for progressing the story but can also be visited later for a mindless mob fighting session, new quests or just because you thought an area was quite handsome and you wanted to see it again.

Once all 7 Pieces of Grace are restored the Evil that befalls this land can be summoned and destroyed

Rifts are an expanding procedurally generated series of dungeons that will both test your skills and reward you with riches… that is, if you can survive.

Void Rifts are semi procedurally generated dungeons where by defeating enough of the rift’s minions you will summon the rift’s protector. Defeating the protector will grant the player epic loot and crafting materials.

Infinite Rifts harbor similar evils, though this time in waves. Each subsequent wave will become increasingly more difficult and each 4th wave will end in a massive boss battle. If the boss is vanquished, participating players will open a portal to a “treasure room” where they can claim their spoils and return to the sanctuary or try their luck by increasing the difficulty and venturing deeper into the rift.

Rifts are an expanding procedurally generated series of dungeons that will both test your skills and reward you with riches… that is, if you can survive.

The Wilderness is a unique game mode that brings together the worlds of PVE & PVP. As an objective based game mode, the only way to “win” is to collect the 3 different books and use them to open a portal back to the sanctuary. Each player or group enters the wilderness with 1 of the 3 books and must eliminate at least 1 other player to collect the remaining books.

Wilderness encounters will feature up to 100 players and can be joined solo or with a group of up to 5. Within the wilderness, players will find unique enemies, delves and loot. Upon death a player may choose to return to the sanctuary, having lost any unbound loot that they have found. They may also choose to return to life up to three times, and attempt to retrieve that which they have lost.

Each player or group enters the wilderness with 1 of the 3 books and must eliminate at least 1 other player to collect the remaining books. The only way to “win” is to collect the 3 different books and use them in a ritual to summon portal back to the sanctuary.

The Arena is found deep within the underbelly of Kynn. The Arena can be entered alone or with up to 4 allies. Arena matches can be played in two modes: Casual or Ranked. Ranked matches will track seasonal progress and grant rewards based on your rank as compared to other players. Casual arena matches are classic deathmatch style matches, where players respawn and try to rack up as many kills as possible giving their team the edge in battle. Ranked matches however, the player only has a single life per round, matches will end after a team has won 2/3 rounds. One special notes about the arena is that the rule for unbound items does not apply within the walls of the arena, you will always step out with that whcih you walked in with.

Ranked leaderboards will be reset every 90 days with the start of each new season. Claiming the coveted #1 spot will immortalize your character in the halls of grace.

I am honestly still surprised that anyone would be interested enough to get this far down the page, but if you are here, I want to humbly thank you from the bottom of my heart. It’s because of you that we spend countless hours, losing sleep and sanity working on making something worthwhile that we can all enjoy. If you want to keep supporting us or are curious to check them out, look to the banners below to wishlist Void Arena on Steam and to follow our page on Kickstarter. Thank you, and see you next week!

If you’re interested in testing Void Arena, be a part of our public alpha by joining our Discord Channel!

Cheers!