HATE: Survival of the Cruelest

In our world, hate was an emotion to avoid. It distracted us, tied us up, and corrupted our souls. But our world is over. It was destroyed through the actions of man. The seas boiled, the forests died, and the Earth began to rot. Few survived, and for those that did, life had changed forever. The mighty rose and quickly subjugated the weak, turning them into servants. Tribes were formed and war raged across the land. There weren’t enough resources to go around, and to live, others had to die. In battles, there was no truce, no surrender. To survive, you needed to hate.

In HATE, players control their Tribe in an ongoing effort to survive and thrive in the new world order. A Tribe is made up of different members like Warriors, Shamans, and Princes. Each has a role to play, and as the game develops, so too will their skills.

In this world, conflict cannot be avoided, and Tribes Clash in the glory of battle again and again. While a full campaign, or Chronicle, of HATE can involve multiple different Tribes, each Clash will be a one-on-one bloodbath. The results of each Clash will carry forward and impact future encounters. Only after every Clash has been played will an ultimate winner be declared for that Chronicle.

In the heat of battle, it’s possible for Tribe members to fall. They will lie unconscious on the battlefield until the end of the Clash. That is, unless an opponent is able to drag their body back to their Village. Those unfortunate souls will meet a gruesome fate. While away in battle, the fires of the Village’s Oven are kept warm, and the blades of the Torture Chamber are kept sharp. Captured foes can be fed to the Ovens to produce resources, or the Torture Chamber to produce Hate. This world is brutal, and sometimes death on the battlefield is a kinder fate. For one Tribe, it signals the permanent loss of a character. But the other will feed on their misfortune, sometimes literally. That Tribe member will be forever lost, and while songs will be written of their great exploits, the player will be forced to start a new member from scratch.

Clashes each have a set of Missions that the Tribes must accomplish. As soon as one Tribe completes all the Missions, the Clash ends, but the impact of the battle remains. Sometimes, the effects of war manifest in developed skills, better equipping your Tribe members for further conflicts. But the effects of war are not always so positive.

The brutal action in the game is driven by the Tribe decks. These cards influence combat in the game and allow players to unleash maneuvers like Chest Kicks or Dodge and Flee. Each deck is made up of cards that are standard to all Tribes, along with ones that are unique to their own. How a Tribe’s deck is constructed will influence the strategies they employ in a Clash. Combat is resolved based on the roll of the dice, but Tribe cards can mitigate the results. Players are also able to draw combat advantages from their home base.

Each Tribe resides in a Village. It is a safe haven, where they are protected from the threat of attack, but Villages are certainly not free of violence. Throughout the course of a game, players will acquire Hate through various actions. It can be used to unlock special skills for their Tribe members, or to upgrade their Village. The skills of their Tribe members develop between Clashes, and they retain those new abilities going forward. However, while the experience of war can help develop skills, it also leaves a mark on the participants. Scars can develop that are more than skin deep, and will affect a warrior’s level of skills.

This is not the world we once knew. Diplomacy, kindness, and understanding have been replaced with something much darker. Conflict ravages the land, entrapping everything it touches. War is not pretty, nor kind. And in the new world there is only war, death, and hate. To survive, to win, you must embrace it, or die.

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