Big Distraction is a brand new studio founded in January 2023, and the result of its first game is athird-person co-op roguelike titlecalledLort.This manic multiplayer game is set to release on Steam before the end of 2025.
Game Rant recently saw some early gameplay footage ofLortin action. The chaotic multiplayer game is set to provide fast-paced, adrenaline-fueled action for up to eight players at any one time, although it can be experienced solo should the player prefer. Big Distraction’s maiden title is set to zero in on the frenetic fun ofbattle royale-style multiplayer games.
The Core Principles Behind Lort
Big Distraction consists of 11 employees, and between them, they have plenty of industry experience. The team has worked on huge,large-scale games such asFortniteandBattlefield, so they are clearly right at home in this genre. With their experience, the devs had three key principles in mind when they first envisionedLort: fun, feel, and performance. The biggest driver when creatingLortwas one question: what benefits the player? The game has been designed first and foremost to maximize player enjoyment, feeling fluid to play with no performance issues.
Players are dropped into a vibrant, colorful, and high-fantasy world full of magic and destruction, which they can tackle solo or with up to seven friends. The game’s cartoon-style art design really helps the environment and characters pop. Players can choose to play as different classes like warrior, ranger, or wizard before being tasked with the simple quest of retrieving specific ingredients within a 5-day cycle, all to escape the world.Each run in the roguelike will be completely differentwith various power-ups, loot, and bosses to fight throughout. Players can revive teammates easily, and the run isn’t fully over until all party members are dead.
Each Run in Lort Will Be Unique
During each run, a fully fleshed out day and night cycle gives the game two distinctive feels, with nighttime bringing out more powerful enemies and better loot. Maps range from snowy mountains to lush green forests and are approximately 2k by 2k in scale.Lortreally plays into the power fantasy, and by the end of a session, the player should feel significantly more powerful compared to when they started it thanks to power-ups. Power-ups can be stacked, and players can find plenty of powerful weapons in every run, withweapon rarity color-coded similar to games likeFortnite.
Weapons range fromtraditional high-fantasy oneslike bows and swords to completely unexpected ones like guns, putting a unique spin on an otherwise frequently used aesthetic. These weapons can also be purchased using currency found in-game, and co-op players will be pleased to hear that this currency is shared equally among the group regardless of who finds it.
Specific Classes Will Not Limit Builds in Lort
As well as the usual array of short and ranged combat options, the player will also have numerous abilities they can use that range from dealing extra damage to doling out status effects and debuffs. While abilities vary depending on class, specific classes will not lock the player out of using other weapons, so players can enjoya certain degree of build variety. In the footage we were shown, for example, a ranger was shown wielding a two-handed club that allowed them to get up close and deal damage like a warrior traditionally would.
Of course, it’s not just enemies and loot that players can find scattered acrossLort’s maps. They also contain shops where they can spend their money, shrines that heal them, and hidden non-combat trials that featureplatforming mechanics and puzzles.
Lort Will Feature Plenty of Bosses
Lortwill contain plenty ofunique and creative bossesto overcome. Each will have its own suite of abilities and moves, with some bosses designed to be more challenging than others. The player has plenty of control over their run and can choose specific quests to do or ingredients to collect. Acting similarly to difficulty sliders, players can create their own optimum conditions by choosing how to engage with the run.
There will also be some permanent progression mechanics on offer, as is the case withmost modern roguelike games. Players will be able to permanently upgrade things like their health, damage output, and number of healing flasks.
