In Driven Out the Protagonist is Not the Main Attraction   

Enemies in games have always fascinated me. Their design, their animations, their moveset and the underlying AI that rules them are all important facets that creates something that almost feels alive. The main protagonist is often the focus of any game, but I find that it is more often the enemies that will have the biggest impact on me.

Driven Out is designed around the idea that the enemies should be the real stars of the show. This was done in several ways. The most obvious one is enemy variation. Most enemies show up in the game only around two times to try to keep every single encounter impactful.

However, the most important way I focused on enemies was that I tried to design to be as varied as possible and every single enemy to have more than one type of attack. Personally, one very satisfactory feeling in gaming is when you can observe an enemy’s action and try to respond correctly.

The main way Driven Out does this is with its game mechanics. The player can parry and attack in 3 different ways. Not only do you have to predict when the enemy attacks, but also how. Therefore, a lot of development time was spent on the build-up of the attacks since it is vital that the player understands from the animations how the enemy will attack.

We force the player into close melee combat. There is no roll or jump button in Driven Out so the player has to stay close to the enemy and constantly parry and attack. This is done intentionally since I find combat in games where the player needs stay close to a tough enemy who can end you in a heartbeat thrilling and rewarding. I hope that sense of dread but also excitement will materialize in Driven Out.

The main goal is that the reward for progress is not some arbitrary number that will go up but rather that the player will get the chance to face off against new exciting enemies. In the end, if this is enough of a reward you, the player will be the judge.

Driven Out is coming soon to Xbox One on the Microsoft Store. Stay tuned to Xbox Wire for further details on this ID@Xbox title.