Halls of Torment - Grimdark Fantasy Undead Horde Roguelike

[@arrowbro]

I feel like the 40k universe would be perfect for a Survivor-style game. You've got a ton of factions to pull enemies from (both mook and elites), you've got tons of options for abilities and heroes, and you've got a built-in fanbase.

[@tristanwegner]

You are right!

[@dud5606]

I really love how well this game emulates the Diablo 1 look.

[@Germania9]

Graphic looks so much like old school Diablo

[@fartloudYT]

More like Blood Omen 1. UI layout is very similar.

[@Germania9]

@@fartloudYT Oh, yeah, I remember that game! Thanks!

[@tristanwegner]

This prelude has an amazing amount of content to unlock, like a new character, a chest with starting items, new stats to upgrade, minions, pure spellcaster builds, trails weapons etc.

[@Doomroar]

It is incredible that Splatt is not tired of so many survivors clones

[@michaelsorensen7567]

I interpreted it as he's *very* tired of so many survivors clones... But wants to push the genre in the better direction so shares and highlights actual good ones instead of just another cash grab

[@Imupinta]

Absolutely love this game so far. The enemies can feel bit bullet-spongey first, but the meta-progression systems help you melt pretty much anything later on. Enemy movement patterns are pretty varied and challenging. Definitely grapping the full game right away at launch. (there's a VAST free demo/alpha available right now, called Halls of Torment:Prelude). The third playable character, *spoiler*, feels great and satisfying to play.

[@tristanwegner]

Yeah, the movement patterns are a fun feature to stood out to me from the dozens of Bullet Heavens I have played

[@ShiryouOni]

I finally played one before you! This one is top of the list Vamp S clones. I really like it, and the fact your save carries over is great.

[@rachelmarie2666]

That's something I sure can't say lol

[@icLllliIIIIlILLilLlIjigel]

Yes, looks like another vampire survivors clone.

[@RoseKindred]

Man, I love the graphics. They give me that nostalgic feeling for early 00 PC gaming.

[@r99716]

visual style is gorgeous oldschool wow

[@PettenVeevo]

Splat, I've been following you for a long time and always been inspired by your style (and your capacity of pumping out this content at such high quality so regularly) - that is some insanely cool dedication. Just wanted to say what reallly resonated with me this time around was your humorous take on how .. how nostalgia works? how we imprint our style from the early, developing years - in this case as gamers :D and you phrased it so well, like a comedian who masters satire, yet also hits the sweetspot that.. yep.. that's how life is, especially as you get older :D thanks man

[@karsonkammerzell6955]

That comment about bosses being a pop quiz is actually something Zelda games have done great over the years; each boss in a new dungeon has often been built around you finally mastering whatever new item/weapon you collected in said dungeon to help you traverse it.

[@eric9822]

Well, here's another instant-buy. Thanks for covering it!

[@brigandboy1425]

This looks so good. And the music is genuinely authentic to what they are inspired by as well. Totally checking this one out.

[@caseygoddard]

This game looks like something you'd play in a 1990s video arcade.

[@TheDeconstructivist]

I'm actually gonna disagree. I think the way they're doing it is AWESOME. It doesn't need a lot of extra complexity to sell me, the way they're handling progression is a wonderful and welcome addition to the VS subgenre. Plus... a boss with actual mechanics? Yes, please!

[@LiqnLag]

This game is straight out of the sunflower seed era, that is what I learned today from uncle Splatt.

[@DamsdelDrennon]

Immediately in love with the Diablo & Vampire Survivor combo, ran to try the demo. Only worried about harsh meta progression making the grind a bit boring, and I was happily surprised to see it's not too bad at all. You even unlock interesting additional perks to start new runs so definitely a lot of time to throw at it and enjoy until full game comes out

[@Thalatash]

Splatt being about the same age as me explains why our tastes are so similar, even sense of humor. I found this game from Wanderbots a few days ago and I have been loving it. I still like Rogue Genesia better but I'll have to wait until this games full release to be sure.

[@LimitedInput]

Great coverage and game!

[@Multivac22]

Little Rakanishus, YEAHHH, that's how they're called!!

[@diskonekted3724]

7:30 - love the old-man rant!

[@13_faces]

My one and only pick up from the steam summer sale. Looking forward to playing!

[@Micull2052]

those undead mages shooting out those skulls while teleporting reminds me of the undead mages from slormancer

[@PreacherwithoutaPulpit]

Over 1600 hrs in VS and I can't wait for this one to hit release. If found it because of the Steam Spring Sale and man I'm looking forward to this one. Another dent to the wallet that I can't blame on Splatty this time as I found it on my own but it was cool to see him playing it. Thanks Splat and I really hope they keep going on this one as it will be a banger...

[@KingOfHell94]

you can start playing already, the demo has huge amount of content and your progress carries over

[@elbonnybar]

yep. already got this one, i couldn't resist add it to the wishlist waaay before this video, i mean i can't resist a Diablo II look alike and the sounds effects are just spot on.

[@Xammblu_Games]

Keep playing folks. 🔥 FLAMETHROWER🔥

[@TinariKao]

The equipment has to show... mentions Diablo 1. Diablo 1 had three sets of prerender sprites for the heroes - basic armor, chain type, and plate armor. Then they had different melee weapons but even then all "swords" looked the same per character, axes, clubs, staves. Diablo 2 had a lot more, but you nailed it when you said "limitless money" because it was around that time that Blizzard North DID have that kinda money. :P

[@bluecadet4309]

If I keep watching Splattey Boi, then my backlog will never get finished. Oh well!

[@sammartano22]

What an entertaining episode today!

[@erografos5326]

Aaahhh nostalgia !!!! Here, sir... please...please.... take my money.

[@EzekielHateable]

Great video as always.

[@kinghoodofmousekind2906]

07:00 maaaan, Arcanum! I would love to see a modern version of that game, maybe a spiritual sequel...

[@demonocolips]

for the equipment being seen, it should just be a layering issue sure you would still need an individual frame for each position for each piece of equipment but you should just be able to layer them over each other.

[@swiss6253]

Damn, this looks really nice.

[@jlaortheshaman1451]

Again.. as always.. well done, well done!

[@Nekoyashiki-san]

Thanks for showcasing. ^^

[@Kyrkby]

Christ, that's one 90s-looking UI.

[@blightfang5148]

to be fair splattercat if this game had blood on the ground the ground would just be red after like 5 minutes

[@ObscuriaDragunAed]

18:53 Jupiter hell scratches some of that itch.

[@no_torrs]

I fully agree with them leaning a bit more into the diablo side, looks rad.

[@DoomedPaladin]

Winners get sunflower seeds, unless you're Russian, in which case they mean you lose.

[@MintFinkeldove]

Looks great!

[@hassonian]

This games addictive AF.

[@petitknightcreations7431]

One thing I noticed while playing was how deflating it felt to kill a boss mob and get average looking gear off them like leather boots or a basic ring of crit chance, and never anything magical or rare. The crit chance ring grants 5% but as the Archer one Crit level grants 3%! I hope the developer also considers adding Weapons as options for attack type variety. I kept trying to find ways to make the Archer fire more than 2 arrows but was unsuccessful, or make the Warrior have a wide slicing arc but it takes many levels. All told, I wish the devs good luck and to keep an open mind to criticism! They have a neat game on their hands.

[@camendiv]

There may in fact be too many enemies to have all of them leaving a corpse....unless they started disappearing like bullet holes in some shooters.

[@KingOfHell94]

there's actually way more content in this demo i have like 13 hours already. more mechanics too. btw i love how you hover over the quests and they all say what they unlock but u never notice it :D

[@thomasglover96]

He’s literally describing Minecraft Dungeons

[@ExpeladeitoR]

25:43 the moment of realisation xDDDD

[@stanislavkimov2779]

Im interested too. Pls, devs, do your best, I'm counting on you.

[@JustinCasualGaming]

3 months later, the game blows up. incredible ideas and thoughts that they should implement in this video. i'm 100% into leaning heavily into D1/D2 mechanics and i hope they do it.

[@kelva1304]

It seemed like you could interact with those totems after selecting your character and moving close to them. Maybe that’s where the metaprogression is and Splat just missed it?

[@catanman2]

Yup, been playing for a few days, the one on the left lets you spend gold for permanent upgrades, and the one on the right tracks your unlocks through achievement quests

[@kelva1304]

Nvm he shows it at the end. I thought he said there was no metaprogression earlier.

[@rachelmarie2666]

Went down like a champ lol

[@lukusblack6442]

Now what I would do is, as Splat said, have randomized loot drops, with an inventory. But, you can swap from your inventory to equip as you please. Your prestige points come from the loot you destroy. The better the loot, the more points. I'd also add in variants of the original Diablo game characters, like the sorceress, thief, druid, and necromancer. Instead of scroll drops, have the gear itself empowered with your spells, and make some of it character type specific, like the druid's wolf helm, or the necro's wand. Essentially, instead of making a bullet heaven more like Diablo, make Diablo more like a bullet heaven.

[@Salz1usTox1cus]

Dude, i need a good ARPG with exactly this graphics! This is insanly appealing to me, i love it. Or a strategy game like Warlords Battlecry with this art.

[@jepoyski]

It's got Titan Quest vibes as well.

[@arrowbro]

I think blood and gore littering the ground could quickly make things difficult to parse. I've seen it happen in Binding of Isaac and I've never felt good about it in other games.

[@natemoyer335]

Game is a bit quiet but great video. Hope the devs take some of your suggestions. It really should lean into the loot and abilities. More drops!

[@fartloudYT]

Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 1 vibes, especially the interface

[@adaug27]

Man, not even 10 mins since the vid dropped and almost 800 views. I hope you get many more!

[@elbonnybar]

25:47 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 don't worry, we still like you. lmao

[@purple3003]

I've been watching your videos and have enjoyed them from start to finish. You're thorough or thorough enough on your thoughts on the games. You know what you like and want to see in X game in Y genre. What I'd like to take away from you Splatter is a designated name for the games that are Vampire Survivors clones to have a name... like WX Arena or something.

[@GeorgPichler]

Tho Diablo didn't do a detailed representation of the gear. You could distinguish weapons and shields by their class (swords, axes, bows, staff, wooden shield, iron buckler, large shield...). Same with armour, where it was based on material (leather, chain, plate...). And getting from leather armour to stronger armor took quite a while.

[@MNNski]

2:24 for a fraction of a second, putting the mouse over that tombstone said quest at the bottom.

[@poppers7317]

5:54 Diablo 1 didn't do that. There were only sprites for light, medium and heavy armor for each character and a single sprite for each weapon type. Putting on a helmet didn't change the look at all.

[@MisterNi]

Hahah, well I hope the devs sell enough to get that Porsche in the garage. 😛

[@andyvickers9021]

I am 4 months late to this party, amazing game

[@davidrosensin7985]

In typical splatt fashion: You can't do anything with them in the beta. Proceeds to hover over the shrine Doesn't try to click on it lol

[@iddqd776]

Splat, just a quicky. You have to unlock items to appear in chests by achievements. I am not sure if this is a good idea, but just for your info. Also there is a skill perchament and a loot chest already spawmed in each map...for a bit of walk.

[@john_duncan]

somehow I unlocked the executioner, who uses a flamethrower fast attack low crit rate, and they are hands down the best character so far. i only have 3 characters unlocked though. there is a way to gather equipment and save one new piece per round, then purchase it and be able to use a loadout each round. kind of cool.

[@tiagocosmos]

Never played Diablo and I'm not particularly looking for another game like VS, I have 20 Minutes til Dawn and I barely played it but this one does look good. Pre rendered 3d is such a nostalgic aesthetic for me love it when well done.

[@ryanlewis4953]

Yeah Clone of the week!

[@Fabinaab]

Would be great if we can agree on a definition for this genre, so it will be easier for devs to add a findable tag for it on Steam.

[@RuneKatashima]

7:39 I feel like option 4 was uh, better. Though I don't know if there's a real distinction between crit chance, and crit chance for your main weapon (only?) Also, I cannot stress enough how much better 20% crit damage is over 5% crit chance. It's twice as good. To put it in perspective, 10% crit damage is equal to 5% crit chance. It's imbalanced, at least when you had the choice for both.

[@sardonyx4570]

It literally tells you what it unlocks on those quests.

[@MrDelightfulRPG]

Thanks for covering Halls of Torment Splat; I know the waves of Horde Survival / Vampire Survivors likes coming out can get tiresome, and VERY flavor of the times, but this one does have potential, even beyond the absolutely nailed Diablo aesthetic. I think your suggestions to the dev to REALLY lean into the Diablo influences is exactly right! Halls of Torment Dev, if you see this: Show us the shattered bones, spilt blood, and broken, accumulated viscera of our foes spread before us, just waves of BROKEN BODIES, crushed beneath the martial power and prowess of the player, and serving as lasting testament to their power! Though, it does lead me to wonder: Maybe all that bloody mess should count as difficult terrain? Maybe as a variant rule, which when selected, improves gold drops? And let us loot awesome, random, color coded goodies from our many foes, and allow the drops to scale up with the scaling power of the horde! In my recorded experiences of Halls of Torment Prelude, I also had some thoughts concerning the current HUGE power discrepancy between the Archer and the Swordsman, and it all comes down to the power of the arrows. The Archer currently does not have to track or retrieve arrows; it would have made things MUCH more interesting if they did! This would either force the archer to close to potential melee range to retrieve salvageable arrows, or hunt for them in the barrels and crates through the lvl. This would balance the massive damage, range, and resulting survivability of the Archer, with their very obvious need for ammo; it seems more than fair. Maybe arrow barrels could be added too, to guarantee at a distance to the archer player that arrows lie this way, as well as weapon racks as well, providing “fresh” weapons that might provide a buff to visiting heroes for a certain number of attacks. This change would both provide something for the melee, as well as add more interesting locations to the map. Anyway, thanks for the video Splat; the attention and advice it provides will help propel Halls of Torment to the top of the Wave Survival genre; I hope they take it.

[@Transmissional]

I love' this style...to bad we dont see more modern versions of this stuff.

[@AkameGaKen]

completely agree with a beefy roguelite upgrades. i want massive upgrades that i have to work hard for. not small upgrades that i have to buy 1000 times. blood on the ground is most likely a visual clerity thing. maybe they added it and it was harder to see what was going on?

[@randyftobias]

Who said you can't both be right and old and out of touch? I know it's not what splat was taking about, but isn't the health orb filled with blood? If it isn't, I have no idea what that boney hand is holding an orb of.

[@Bllurr1]

Vampire Survivors leaned into the Castlevania theme hard. Might as well do it with other beloved classics like Diablo.

[@bodobagger38]

so Splatt what do you think how many copies they need to sell for a porsche in the garage?

[@TheMaulam12345]

LOVE IT

[@darkmattergamesofficial]

Loot feedback is very key for this kind of game. Definitely you need to be able to see the changes you made. That is one of the downsides of their art style though, implementing a gear system with pre-renders... yikes!

[@jmjoue]

Maybe the blood or gore on the ground could be too taxing on the system? I'm curious?

[@gamerid6507]

didnt u make a vid on this game a few days ago?

[@ivokostov2676]

Whats is common in those games as Diablo 2, POE and VS. Is horde and some build. How don t need spent hours but just the few minutes to get to point slaughter hordes of enemy. In was is natural evolution of such beloved game. What the player wants and is looking. Tottaly dig that style yes. Heroes 3 was most probably the most beautiful game. Who ever made the cities did a masterpiece of work. Units were awesome as well. At the end of video how much ours can sink up to see what will unlock. Its like quests. YEAH. Not that don t do the same in POE with achievements.

[@ezequielblanco8659]

Rakanishu!

[@badgercdlyons]

Clone Of The Week! CAT-W!

[@seniorbob2180]

"... and really looking at the things that 'Path of Exile,' 'Diablo 1,' and 'Diablo 2' have done..." Lol, I detect a fellow Diablo 3 hater.

[@manymustfall]

Could be someone like me. I don't have any opinion about it since I didn't play it.

[@seniorbob2180]

@@manymustfall a smart choice.

[@-Slinger-]

Compared to VS this seems to have very few weapons and mostly stat upgrades.

[@tiredtyrant370]

I don't trust the VS clones that have short rounds. They are looking at to many "zero attention span" metrics.

[@ohdubwest7533]

It definitely looks like the first Diablo game at first glance.

[@thisisntthewholesomefuture649]

Why can't I find this on Steam?

[@ilanberci]

First time I heard of Adam Sandler as an inspiration to work towards.. ;)

[@Raziel1984]

yep it would be totally awesome to have a diablo 2 were you level and equip a whole character in 30 minutes

[@UristMcFarmer]

To keep the look of the Diablo pre-render but not actually pre-render, all they should have to do is limit the model to 8 facings with no transition between the facings.

[@Gigusx]

I don't do game-dev specifically, but wouldn't generating all the combinations of sprites (clothing specifically) be, I don't wanna say easy, but at least very feasible? Once you design them and set some parameters as for what kind of clothing can go over what kind of clothing (e.g. a shield being displayed over the gloves), you would generate all the combinations programmatically and get a decent result. On this resolution and zoom level you wouldn't have to be very rigorous and could still make adjustments when needed. The challenge would really be designing all those capes, shields, tunics, etc but that's a matter of how many of these things you want to have in game (can always reuse and slightly modify some sprites before you make new ones).

[@Mistergreg]

Diablo 1 rendered all of the character sprites in three different styles of armor. They used palette swapping to help differentiate items. Diablo 2 went a step further and broke the characters down into different elements that could be individually swapped out, and then rendered in layers (ie. head, torso). This allows for a lot more configurability without having to pre-render the entire character over and over, and it provides flexibility for mixing and matching armor on generalized character body types. It's still a lot of work. Splat was describing the Diablo 1 mechanism, based on what I gathered. I think this game could go the Diablo 2 route.

[@Gigusx]

@@Mistergreg Thanks for explaining, very interesting! I thought I'd do it the same way Diablo 1 did it, but it's probably way better (easier) done in the sequel. Still, I don't really get why the process similar to that in Diablo 1 would be so challenging since you still have to design the same armor pieces and then just lay them on top of each other in a reasonable order. So in the end, once the armor pieces are designed it would be a matter of writing a script to generate all sorts of combinations and sprites, alternatively adding some turning/spins if you want the model to react to lightning or show different angles. 25 years ago it probably would've been much harder but today I imagine 3d devs have much more control over the software and can program further it to suit their needs?

[@Mistergreg]

@@Gigusx KZbin keeps deleting my replies. This is my last attempt: TLDR; if you have just three sets of six different items, you are looking at about 1140 base renders that all need things like walk, attack, and death rotations. If you render those items individually and layer them in real-time, you have 18 different base renders. You can see where this is going, as three sets of six items isn't much. That said, Diablo 1 had thousands of sprites! Search for Diablo on The Spriter's Resource, and click into the individual base sprites to the see the related sheets. Organizing all of this for hundreds or thousands of item and weapon types would be a nightmare. The memory management for the game would also be a challenge. Hopefully this explains the issues more clearly. Could it be done? Maybe. Would I advise doing it? NO. :) PS: The math for this is based off factorials, and I hate it. But I think the total for my example is something like 1140 base renders using the equation (18+3-1)! / (18-1)! 3! ... versus 18 base renders (6 + 6 + 6). I'm sure someone can correct my math, but the number is big, no matter what.

[@crashzone6600]

This would probably be better as a Diablo 2 mod.

[@visageliquifier3636]

Pretty good. It is an alpha, but a lot of the main stuff looks pretty solid. The enemies are way too soaky later on. Distance you need to trudge to get to any powerup is pretty long. Enemy scaling is pretty aggressive. Let the player feel powerful for a few seconds before scaling the enemies up. Enemy directional spawn isn't too bad, but is pretty crowded. Later levels I'm just steering for gaps and am counting mostly on random hits and skills to do damage. I can't really play the game because I'm constantly adjusting to new spawns directly behind me. ... in essence twist each difficulty knob down a bit. It's a little overtuned.

[@DrunkenWizardBattle]

wouldnt be a splat vid if he didnt miss a major component to the game till the last 5mins

[@BlobBlobkins]

I miss this graphical style in games. Inquisitor vibes.