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[nenjin]

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/krater/1221304p1.html

(There's a video in the Gamespy article. A direct link to the video on IGN wasn't loading for me.)

In a nutshell: control a small party of three semi-humanoid mutants as they scavenge for lost treasures in the depths of a massive shaft that runs deep underground. It's Diablo-y, with a Baldur's Gate-style party command interface. The character portion of it is focused on creating a well-rounded party to take on the deeper levels of the crater. Characters can be built to be tanks, DPS or healers, or you can hybridize them and try off-beat combinations like No Tank or No Dedicated Healer groups.

Why I think this game might appeal to Bay12: permanence. Every time a character goes down in combat, they get a wound that gives them penalties. (Broken leg, ect...) If they don't receive medical treatment soon, that wound becomes permanent. And of course, they can die. Permanently. There are a finite amount of scavengers you can hire to join your party, so your characters aren't throw aways. The stat bonuses you choose for them are also permanent, so there's no "ah I'll just respec this guy to suit my needs." Gear can be switched, but most traits are permanent.

The developers are touting a really extensive crafting system too, that apparently can be used to rebuild your character's appearance as well as create items.

The game will also feature some sort of limited co-op, which may or may not be in by release. It'll be released episodically, with the later episodes coming cheaper than the first. 

[Levi]

Sounds interesting.  I'll keep an eye open for it.

[Kansa]

This sounds awesome

[ebarstad]

You can pre-order from the developer and activate the beta on Steam for €11.99 (was €7.99 a couple weeks ago). I bought it but haven't tried it out yet. It's too bad they decided to up the price - $10 was right in the impulse buy zone.

[Tilla]

They had a free alpha key on IGN Prime b efore they figured out people were exploiting the everliving fuck out of trial accounts so I got one unfortunately it's very much an alpha as they say, and not particularly playable.

[lemon10]

Looks interesting.
However, my major beef with it so far is the 3 character on your team limit (that said, since there are only three character types it is less annoying then in most other games of this type).
I loved having 6 in baldurs gate, it was great, even though you couldn't have every class or NPC, you still had a broad range of choices at every point.

After that, it pretty much went all downhill, from 6->4 (dragon age)->3 (mass effect).
I understand if your on a console controlling them all is hard, but being limited for no real reason is really annoying.

[Enzo]

Yeah, the idea of having 3 characters and 3 basic setups (deal damage, absorb damage, heal damage) available makes this sound much less interesting than it would be with greater customization. Could still be good, I guess, but touting the party customization with such limited options seems pretty weak.

[ThtblovesDF]

YOU HAVE A TOTAL OF 6 SKILLS AT YOUR DISPOSAL AT ALL TIMES! ~proud developer face.jpg

YOU HAVE A TOTAL OF 6 SKILLS AT YOUR DISPOSAL AT ALL TIMES? ~dismissing gamer face.jpg

YOU HAVE A TOTAL OF 6 SKILLS AT YOUR DISPOSAL AT ALL TIMES?! ~confused casual gamer.jpg

[ebarstad]

Played for about a half hour the other night. Currently, the game kind of removes your agency from the fights since all three characters attack enemies automatically and you only really control special abilities. I'm not sure I like that. I think I was hoping for a control scheme more like Mass Effect where you have a main character that you control and two companions who will attack on their own but whose special abilities you can also queue up for cool combos and such.

I didn't play enough to see any of the cooler elements mentioned by the OP, but I think I'll set this aside until it's further along.

[ductape]

This does in fact look really fun.

[ChairmanPoo]

Does it have procedurally generated content?

[Vherid]

Interesting.

[nenjin]

Does it have procedurally generated content?

On the order of Diablo, I think so. But that's closer to random generation than the procedural generation we think of from DF.

[BuriBuriZaemon]

My bad, nenjin. Didn't think off searching the topic before I created a new one. Anyway, mine is locked so all discussions will continue here.

Had a chance to play for 40 minutes last night and the game indeed surpassed my expectation. Here's my brief first impression. Writing this at work so please pardon the lack of structure or grammatical mistakes.

Graphics
The graphics looked much better than in the videos, somehow. And the art style of the characters and buildings? I am loving it! It reminds me of Borderlands, fits well with the humourous presentation of post-apocalyptic world. I like the scout character model the best. The animations also look great, although not as "satisfying" as Torchlight II.

Gameplay
I haven't done enough combat to say much about this but the combat itself seem simplistic with only 6 skills to use. I think it's designed that way so you don't get overwhelmed by the fast pacing of the combat by having to control three characters (instead of one, ala Diablo) on real-time basis (instead of turn-based or pausable like X-COM or Jagged Alliance). When you level up you do get more access to higher level mercenaries that you can hire.

Verdict
For $15, you get early beta access and free upgrade to Collector's Edition. After launch, they will introduce multiplayer co-op mode that allows seamless integration between online and offline play, schedule for release on 10 July. I'd say go for it!

Plus the developer is indie!

[nenjin]

Glad to hear it's shaping up to be a good game. I was feeling kind of ambivalent about it even though I made a thread for it, but I'll give it a whirl at release if it's got a few seals of approval.