PAX East 2013: Mercenary Kings are crafty mercs [Hands-on]

Developed by Tribute, a collection of members from development of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, Mercenary Kings is looking to bring crafting into side scrolling shooters. After being successfully Kickstarted in September, Tribute has been hard at work on the game and was able to bring a playable demo to PAX.

Although all features were not available in the show build, it did give players a good idea of what to expect from the game. Players started in a hub area, containing a number of different shops and NPCs to interact with. Here players are able to customize weapons using the loot picked up from missions, shop for weapons and equipment and cook animals hunted. Although the cook was visible in the hub world, the hunting grounds connected to the main area was unfinished and not really ready for players.

Missions are not as straightforward as one might think. In more traditional side-scrolling shooters, players are tasked with walking together as a group from the left side of the stage to the right. In Mercenary Kings, maps have many different routes and areas to explore. Players are also able to separate themselves from the group, allowing for a more heavily armed player to take down a bigger enemy, while other party members are out exploring different areas of the map in search of loot.

During the brief time spent with the game, it seemed as if the resources for creating and customizing weapons dropped at a pretty decent rate. Items are shared across team members, so even if you are miles away from your teammates everything each individual player finds or achieves helps the group as a whole. Some missions will require the group to stay together, while others will encourage the group to split apart to look for the missions goals.

Crafting not only controls what type of damage your weapon is doing, but also affects your character. Bigger weapons might be able to put out more bullets and damage, but that might hinder your characters ability to maneuver in combat. It’s these trade offs in the crafting system that Tribute hopes will allow players to develop the best weapon possible for how they want to play the game.

The demo on the show floor features 4 player local co-op, but online options will be available in the retail version. The game is currently planned to launch on PC later this year with a potential console and OUYA version coming after.