Exclusive Reveal: Goliath

While more will be shown off at E3 this year, we have the first reveal of the upcoming survival/action game Goliath. Targeting a winter 2016 release for PC and Mac, Viva Media and Whalebox Studio’s take on the survival genre features massive constructs that you can hop in to take on the dangers of various biomes and larger-than-life bosses, both solo or with friends.

The concept is simple – after an unfortunate jaunt through a mysterious rift, you’re stranded in an unknown world. You have to survive against hordes of small threats and massive enemies, crafting your own robotic constructs, weapons, tools, and equipment for a chance at survival. To do this, you have to create massive mech companions known as Goliaths. A day/night cycle features tougher threats when the lights dim, weather considerations, and multiple factions in the land you’ll befriend and turn into enemies. If this sounds a whole lot like a riff on Don’t Starve with giant robots, you’re not far from the mark.

While many of the core concepts of survival games like Don’t Starve are present, the gist of Goliath moves the survival focus away from trying to keep your belly full and your sanity preserved, and instead onto combat elements to keep the tension high. You won’t have to worry about eating, you don’t need to make tools to harvest resources, and darkness won’t kill you outright, but you will need a supply of potions and supplies to keep your health bar topped off as you encounter foes large and small. Constructing a central base in the procedurally generated landscape is also a great idea, as enemies tend to be aggressive – especially after you’ve upset a few of the factions that inhabit the game’s various biomes.

In order to battle the denizens dotting the land you’ll need weapons, and much of the focus is on crafting and customization of your various Goliaths. While there are many different suits available, we saw a few basic ones in the demo – wood, stone, and metal, each with their own different strengths and weaknesses. For instance, the basic wood Goliath is quite fast, but doesn’t boast the tanky frame of the stone Goliath. These hulking robots can then be outfitted with various weapons of the melee and ranged variety to better handle the many enemies you face. While you can pop into your Goliath and handle it directly for perfect control of any given situation, you can also opt to battle outside your tanky friend while it fights autonomously.

The enemies we saw during a demo ranged from annoying birds and spiders to large-scale bosses that had traditional action-game windows of opportunity to get attacks in. One early game big bruiser could shatter a Goliath in just a few swings of his club, but waiting for him to miss and get his weapon stuck in the ground was a solid strategy for a scrappy wood Goliath.

While you’re crafting potions, weapons, Goliaths, and equipment and exploring the land for treasure and trouble, you complete quests and make choices that determine your standing with several factions that occupy the world including demons, forest folk, robots. Your choices determine which factions you become friendly with over the course of the game and also what enemies you make; it’s possible to seek peace between the factions as a goal or to encourage and accelerate full-on war.

Goliath supports both co-op and competitive multiplayer, so you can work with your friends or against them in a robotic arms race. Look for more information coming on Goliath next week and at E3 this year.