The MOBA - multiplayer online battle arena - genre is a familiar one. But Chief Rebel and Arc Games’Fellowshipis something new. It’s a “MODA,” which can stand for multiple online dungeon arena or dungeon adventure, a game that challenges parties to take on a variety of themed dungeons and clash with difficult bosses in exchange for valuable loot.Fellowshipblends fast-paced multiplayer gameplay with a gorgeously designed fantasy setting and awide roster of heroesto choose from. The Chief Rebel team looks forward to launching the game in closed alpha on August 15, while the full version ofFellowshipis planned to release in 2025.
Game Rant had the opportunity to previewFellowshipas well as speak with game director Axel Lindberg, design director Bretton Hamilton, and community director Hamish Bode about their upcoming title. They discussed the many heroes available inFellowship,some of the bosses and dungeons players can encounter, and how they use the game’sunique character progressionand Ascension and Curse system to keep dungeons feeling fresh and challenging and offer tricky boss encounters without the need for hours of grinding.This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Fellowship’sFascinating Cast Of Characters
Q:Fellowshipoffers players so many heroes to choose from. Do you guys have any particular favorites?
Hamilton:For myself, I really like Warmaster, the one with the shield and the sword. Helena - we recently changed her name. And I like [Ardeos the] Fire Mage too. I think he’s really fun to play.
Lindberg:It’s Fire Mage! There’s a lot to learn about how to get out the most damage with Fire Mage. It’s a lot. And it’s very satisfying when you get all the things to time up right, and you get to do those big snap explosions. So Fire Mage is my favorite.
Bode:I think, for me, I’m drawn to the ones who look cool. So Sylvie, to me, is probably one of thecoolest-looking heroesin my opinion. There’s also Meiko, who is a melee fighter that’s like a cool martial artist.
Q: So, currently you have a pretty varied roster of Tank, DPS, and Healer heroes. Do you plan to expand this roster and add more heroes toFellowshipin the future?
Hamilton:Yes. I think that’s one of the things that we can offer, in a way that a lot of the other games we are inspired by can’t. When you look at a lot of the other bigMMOs,there’s a new type of playable character or class like once every couple of years. They put out maybe eight new dungeons each expansion and then maybe anywhere between two and four additional dungeons throughout that expansion’s lifetime, which spans like a year and a half to two and a half years. Meaning that really, if you love this kind of content, you’re stuck doing the same content for quite a long period of time.
So, what we can do, because we aren’t doing this big open world with200 hours of questing, is be putting out new heroes and new dungeons at a much higher cadence, allowing us to kind of shift the meta and keep things fresh. And when we see things starting to settle, with players having mastered the current set of dungeons, we can have something new out ready for it.
Q: Can you try out lots of different heroes inFellowship,regularly switch around, or does the game kind of encourage you to pick one main hero and stick with them?
Lindberg:Definitely switching around. So, there is persistent progression. You’ll be earning loot, and gatheringcrafting resources, and ranking up your hero, which will unlock your talents. And all of these things are done character by character. However, we want to make sure that there is an incentive for players who have a main character to want to switch heroes, and get that journey to be much quicker. So, when you jump to your second or third hero, you’re going to be able to boost those heroes very quickly. We think it’s good to have a bit of a journey for switching to new heroes, because all of our new heroes have such unique abilities. So it’s good to have a bit of a learning curve.
Ultimate Abilities And Raid Dungeons
Q: Speaking of unlocking things as you progress through characters, can you tell me a bit about how Ultimate Abilities work?
Hamilton:When you get done with your first round of Quick Play, you unlock yourUltimate Ability. As you play through the dungeon, and as you do damage and play your character, you are slowly building up a meter that gives you access to your big ultimate ability. For example, Fire Mage’s Ultimate Ability is Dragon’s Breath. It’s kind of a big flamethrower, where you shoot a giant eruption of flame that causes everything in front of you to set on fire. Each hero has their own distinct ultimate ability as well.
Bode:Helena the Warmaster’s ultimate ability gives her 100 percent Toughness, which basically means she’s not going to take much damage for the next 12 seconds. This keeps the healers very happy, and it’s nice if [the party’s] in a bind. She can just go ahead and really just use everything she can to push through - and it looks cool, too!
Lindberg:Sylvie’s Ultimate is really great when she can’t catch up with the healing, say the entire party’s around 50% health. Her Ultimate sends out these large green butterflies to everyone, and they synchronize everyone’s health. So we get the same percentage of health. And now we’re sharing all the damage we’re taking, and also sharing all thehealingwe’re getting. It lets Sylvie stabilize the group in these dangerous situations.
Q: In addition to quick play dungeons and ranked dungeons, you are also looking at adding raids, correct?
Hamilton:Yes. One of the things we are also looking to do, that will not be part of our summer closed playtest, isRaids. Raids will have a slightly larger group of players going in and tackling this content. There will be a much greater focus on getting you into boss fights, and having boss fights that are probably a bit more elaborate, requiring coordination and communication between a large group of players.
We’re still kind of determining how many players will be in a raid. I don’t have an exact answer yet. But it will probably be larger than your standard group of four.
Using Teamwork To Defeat Powerful Bosses
Q: Each boss battle inFellowshipfeels so unique and epic. Are there any boss battles or boss mechanics in existing games that inspired you?
Lindberg:I would say that the inspiration is very broad. There are so many games. I mean, it’s beyond genres. Sometimes, when we’re bouncing ideas around about another boss that we’re designing, inspiration can come from shooter games. I’ve been inspired byHearthstonemechanics, when I see something that fits in our game. So you kind of have to translate it, this seed of inspiration from something. So we’re drawing inspiration from all over the place.
Hamilton:We’ve got a level where there’s a siege - these undead creations are kind of attacking a big castle up on a hill. And your job is to get in there and save the day - kind of like Gandalf coming down the hill and saving the day at the last moment. And when we were talking about the designs for those boss fights, I went in and watched a bunch ofLord of the Ringsmovies, and watched a bunch of these big medieval fantasy siege movies. So, we look for inspiration everywhere we can find it.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like Game Rant’s readers to know aboutFellowship?
Lindberg:We think that this is a genre of game that is missing. When you take in the fact that you get to this part [the dungeon/final boss] immediately, when it’s usually kind of gated away and hidden away. That was one of the initial inspiring points. We are intentionally designing the heroes, the abilities that they have, all our progression systems, and definitely theboss fightsand the enemies in a way where we’re constantly talking about “how can we make design mechanics where we need each other to be able to succeed?”
That comes from, in my opinion, [the fact that] there are few feelings as powerful as when you have to work together as a team to overcome a challenge. And you succeed. It’s such a human spirit kind of feeling. Sharing stories with your friends about: “Oh, we were so close!” Or “And then she came in at just the right minute.” Or “Then thetankdid that.” Stories are really central to what we want to create and allow players to experience as much as possible.
Bode:Like I mentioned before, I’m working on the community side of things. And that’s a huge part of why I wanted to join this team. This is a game that I want us to create with our players. And this is why. When I get a chance to talk to people and explain what we’re doing, that’s what gives me a lot of energy. And I also think, unlike working at giant companies, which I’ve done in the past, we’re in a real unique position to really make this game with our players, and make it a real collaborative effort.
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