The Way of Wrath – Skybound First Look

Animmal Studio’s upcoming strategy RPG The Way of Wrath will be taking us on an adventure in a Bronze Age world where shamans play a major part of everyday life. As such, the game’s latest development update introduces us to the Skybound, a type of shaman that’s all about the sky, ritualistic battle dances, and majestic feathery getups.

Apart from some impressive-looking concept art and a quick overview of this particular shaman origin, the update also shows off a few motion-captured animations and lets us know that an updated beta demo of the game is already looming on the horizon.

Here’s more on that:

Hello Warchiefs!
If you’ve been following our game you would have seen images of fearsome Yarbogha, a solitary traveling shaman who acts as an emissary between death itself and the living, administrating burial rites and passing judgment upon the guilty.
But you may remember, Thein people, the player faction in the game, had another type of shaman called the Skybound!
Unlike Yarbogha, Skybound are much more involved in everyday Thein lives. Their power rivals that of the strongest Thein Warlords. Skybound guide Thein people with a strict spiritual doctrine that has allowed Thein to thrive in the harshest arctic wastelands they call home.
Where Yarbogha dominate the battle through terror and raw brutality, the Skybound inspire their allies through fearsome battle dances and use secret shaman tools, gadgets, and concoctions to control the battlefield. Players who chose the Skybound origin will enjoy a unique experience in social interactions with other characters.
It is finally time to introduce Skybound in all their black & bronze winged glory!
Thein believe they come from the skies, and they shun things of the earth. The word Skybound honors the Shaman’s connection to the skies, and the unearthly, alien visage of the garments inspire reverence and fear in all who meet them.
Motion Capture
Designing and modeling Skybound was just one-half of the creative process. To truly come alive in the game we needed to design awe-inspiring rituals and movements for shamans to employ during battles.
And to that end, the peace on the streets of Tbilisi was disturbed by soul-chilling howls and incantations.
Intricate battle dances and bizarre ritual movements could be observed from the windows of our animation recording room.
Dato, our art director put his sanity on the line and channeled his inner shaman.
With the help of our Motion Capture system, we recorded realistic animation of shaman rituals, battle dances, melee attacks, and NPC activities. All in all, we recorded over 300 life-like animations to improve the immersion and depth of our game.
What’s Next?!
We are getting closer to a new and improved beta demo! We are now polishing and implementing the remaining features and iterating upon the new story and quests. We hope you’ll enjoy all the improvements and changes we made, and we can’t wait to share the game with you ^_^
Stay tuned, and we’ll be back with more updates!
As always, if you have questions or feedback, you can reach us on our website, or our Discord Channel.
Cheers,
The Way of Wrath Team