Never Split the Party

Mechanics

In Never Split the Party we observe action from above (top-down perspective). The game involves exploring randomly generated levels (each dungeon consists of 5 different locations, which can be drawn from a set of several hundred variants). As we proceed, we kill enemies (we can encounter several dozen different types) and avoid other threats (e.g. traps).

As the game progresses, we unlock new abilities and gain more and more powerful equipment. The game features over a hundred different improvements and skills and dozens of magical potions that help us deal with the challenges posed by the Countess's dungeon. Importantly, death is permanent. When we die, we lose everything we have achieved and we have to start playing from the beginning.

In the game from Legend Studio, cooperation is very important - individual players must support each other and resurrect each other when they are defeated. Even starying too far from the group may have serious consequences. The player who does this is transferred to another level and left on their own, while the others have to deal without their support - this is important because there are several very different roles, such as Cartographer (possesses maps of the explored dungeons), Treasurer (he can check the inventory of each player), Vitalist (checks the health of each participant) and Loremaster (collects knowledge about improvements).

Game modes

The mainstay of the game is a four-person, online co-op mode. We can also play without a full team, but the difficulty level increases significantly.

Technical aspects

Never Split the Party features two-dimensional pixel-art visuals. The graphics resemble classic games from the 90s of the last century. We can see a clear inspiration of manga and anime in the artistic style and design of individual heroes and monsters.