Petroglyph Announces MMO-DOTA Hybrid Rise of Immortals

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
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Petroglyph Announces MMO-DOTA Hybrid Rise of Immortals


The venerable real-time strategy veterans at Petroglyph said that the closed beta of Rise of Immortals is starting ... now.

The Defense of the Ancients sub-genre, also known as DOTA or MOBA, has players taking control of hero characters in a top-down real-time environment. These heroes, which usually have catchy names and specific skillsets, level up over the course of the match, gaining in power and effectiveness as they battle NPC monsters and other player's heroes. The sub-genre was popularized by the WarCraft III user-made map called Defense of the Ancients but it has since become a favorite of competitive strategy players. Petroglyph, consisting of many veterans from Westwood Studios (Dune 2, C&C), is putting its foot forward in the DOTA arena with Rise of Immortals. Set in 300 years after the company's turn-based strategy board game Guardians Of Graxia, RoI is a free-to-play online game that features persistent leveling of your Immortal. Sign up for the closed beta at Petroglyph's website [http://www.riseofimmortals.com/] and help the team get ready for a Spring 2011 release.

"Many people at Petroglyph are huge fans of MOBA gameplay, so developing Rise of Immortals was truly a passion project for the studio," said Steve Wetherill from Petroglyph. "We recognize that there can be a high barrier to entry in current MOBA games on the market, and we wanted to expand the genre with a title that offers new features that will appeal both to current fans, as well as those who are new to this type of game."

The ability to keep leveling up your hero over battles is the spicy big sausage that RoI brings to the DOTA table, but Petroglyph also wants to blend in some MMO features like hub-worlds where you can walk your Immortal around to meet and talk to other players. At launch, RoI will allow you to pick from 12 distinct Immortals, each with their own schtick, but of course the plan is to keep adding to that number. It will not cost you anything to download the game and start battling, but Petroglyph hopes to get your dough by offering equippable items or pets for sale.

The first three Immortals revealed are Kyrie, Lazarus, and Tatiana. Man, that Tatiana sure is easy on the eyes, but does it really count as armor if we can almost see your hoo-hah?

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fundayz

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Feb 22, 2010
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I think that this subgenre is quickly become saturated.

Adding side features while still having the same gameplay(eg. 3-5 lanes, turrets, only a few skills per hero) doesn't really excite me.

Hopefully they try to innovate aside from having social hubs.
 

RejjeN

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Aug 12, 2009
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Something tells me that it's gonna be hard to tell all the lightly dressed female characters apart...
 

Omgsarge

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May 11, 2009
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Why Petroglyph? Where are my (hopefully) good RTSs? :(
What a let down. You put out another DOTA like game that also plays in stereotypical fantasy universe? Like all the others? With high resolution but sterile graphics? Sigh.
If its a kinda MMO why not add character customization. Maybe pick a power template but let you customize your avatar's looks, weapons, how your powers look, etc. It doesn't have to be extensive, just something to set it apart from League of Legends. They could have added more advanced body parts or something similar as micro transactions.
Eh, I know the game is in beta but the basic look is bland and the premise is weak. Again Petroglyph, where are my RTSs? :(
 

Ridrith

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Aug 17, 2009
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Wow, after watching that video I know one thing. I'm going to be staying far away from this game. Not only does it look like it plays horribly the characters are entirely boring looking. Honestly this looks like junk that we're getting from game companies over seas that are mass producing and releasing another generic MMO game every other month.

What a terrible looking experience. League of Legends not only looks like it plays better but it's certainly better looking in terms of graphics and such. If LoL isn't your thing there's always HoN. 'Course we can't forget the original DOTA on WC3 and the new ones on SC2.
 

Twilight.falls

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Jun 7, 2010
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I don't see why companies try to make more games this way when Valve announced Dota 2 to be released later this year.

Why play this when you have the real deal coming soon?

And at least in Dota 2 the female characters (at least from what the 4 screenshots indicate) aren't scantily clad unlike Heroes of Newerth and now this...

Also, this only has 12 heroes? Balanced as that may be, Dota has 103 very balanced heroes.

I'm sorry, I wish Petroglyph well with their endeavors, but I'm skeptical as to how they can differentiate themselves from the competitors.
 

Throwitawaynow

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Aug 29, 2010
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Greg Tito said:
The Aeon of Strife sub-genre, also known as AOS
There you go. DOTA was not first, it wasn't even second. AOS defined the sub-genre.

OT: I hope this is better than the latest incarnations, as they all seem to suck.
 

Weaver

Overcaffeinated
Apr 28, 2008
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Oh, the gaming industry:
"What, these MOBA things are making money? QUICK EVERYONE MAKE ONE MAKE ONE MAKE ONE!!!!!!!!"
 

Taluien

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Apr 15, 2009
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AC10 said:
Oh, the gaming industry:
"What, these MOBA things are making money? QUICK EVERYONE MAKE ONE MAKE ONE MAKE ONE!!!!!!!!"
Ask the guys behind Demigod how well that went...