Developer Summary

Deity features unique gameplay mechanics, requiring only the mouse to play and was inspired by games such as Diablo, Torchlight and Batman: Arkham Asylum, encompassing stealth action in an isometric view.

What We Think

Deity is a game from students of the famous school Digipen built from the ground up in C++ with a custom engine. While short, and just a school project, it does right what it set out to do; to make a stealth-based game with simple mechanics engaging and fun. Played entirely with the mouse, you are a demon entering a temple of knights and angels. You have the ability to teleport short distances and to inhabit torches or flames. But you are weak to light, and, if bathed in the glow from a torch or the the light of a knight’s holy shield, you’ll take damage.

You’re not totally helpless either, though. If you can sneak around behind a patrolling knight, you can teleport into them, effectively tele-fragging them. But, if you try to blink into them from a frontal attack, you’ll take damage from the light of the shield. While these mechanics are simple, the execution is superb and this short little game makes for a nice little treat to play.

Shine a Light

The level designs are rather standard ‘sneak’ game set-ups as you get started, but become clever and interesting as you progress past the learning phase of the game. Enemies that were spread out before become tightly packed, forcing you to rely more on actual stealth rather than on joyfully tossing yourself into every guard’s back-side and making them explode. Short hallways that remind you that your main weakness is light also remind you that you’re an invading demon, blinking past candles, using the shadows of statues as your hopping points.

Graphically and as a school project, amazing. Even if it were a full release indie game, the art and visual effects stand a level above the standard fare. The only thing I would want more of is: more light, more shadow effects, more moving light sources. (And thus more danger!) That said, the Demon is cool-looking, and the knights imposing.

The part that made the game really sing for me was the ability to chain several teleports together into a single action. It made me feel like I was a real trickster Imp, confusing my enemies as I would blink into a torch behind them, and then dive into their unprotected backside, or into a torch atop a wall, and then down on a guard on the other side. It can’t be done infinitely, but it only takes a few seconds to recharge, so I was never restricted from being able to partake in this, the most fun way to escape or combat my opponents.

And mercifully, it definitely ends on a high note, before it begins to feel repetitive, and just after an epic battle. While it only lasts for about a 30-minute sitting, Deity is well worth the amount of time it takes to feast upon.

Download Deity free at the official site

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