So far, the folks at Phantom Compass have revealed a lot about the “pinball” part of their medieval pinball-meets-RPG mash-up, Rollers of the Realm: Reunion, detailing explorative pinball, combat pinball, pinball platforming, and most recently, stealth pinball. Now, it’s finally time to explore the RPG side of the equation, and how the development team is building off of the foundation laid in 2014 with the original Rollers of the Realm.
This time around, the roster of playable hero balls is five: the Knight, Mage, Rogue, Healer, and Goblin Prince. While this is fewer characters than in the original game, several factors — like personal and party stats, equipment and item options, and hero traits — make the roster deeply customizable to suit a number of playstyles, and make every hero feel essential in their own way.
Players can select up to three balls at any given time, and the combination of heroes will affect the party’s stats. These stats can provide a number of benefits, such as increased mana collection or luck, which cause abilities to occasionally be used without consuming mana. On top of this, each hero ball’s base personal stats can be enhanced via a series of upgrade categories.
These categories are Ability, Dash, Weapon, Armor, and Item. Ability represents each hero’s unique power, Dash and Weapon focus on offensive stats, Armour focuses on defensive stats, while the Item category is more varied, having elements of both. Each category has three different types of upgrades to choose from, offering unique benefits and allowing for varied playstyles for individual heroes.
Finally, each hero has two traits that define their class characteristics. The Knight, for instance, has the Smash trait which increases his damage dealt with breakable objects.
All of these factors create a deeply customizable RPG with complex upgrade paths and varied playstyles. There’s no single way to become a legend; how players rise up to pinball greatness is up to them.
