BattleCry Melee-Focussed Free-To-Play Multiplayer Game Unveiled for 2015

Bethesda Softworks, game publisher best known for its The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and most recently Wolfenstein: The New Order titles, along with its BattleCry Studios, has unveiled a new free-to-play multiplayer combat game - BattleCry.

The 32-person online multiplayer game is meant for PC and is said to resemble with the game title Team Fortress but without any rifles, rocket launchers and miniguns. In BattleCry, players have to fight each other in a close combat with the help of swords, crossbows and metal fists in highly-stylised environments.

The players will fight each other in order to earn iron, which is the BattleCry's currency, which can be used to unlock characters and create other combat weapons.

The free-to-play title, Bethesda's first, is set in the early 20th century war with all the world's superpower countries fighting against each other. The main catch in Bethesda's BattleCry is there is no usage of gunpower that means no guns, chemical weapons or bombs because of The Black Powder Treaty.

BattleCry includes characters like the Enforcer, whose massive sword can act as a shield when wanted, the Duelist, a dual-wielding swordsman, and Tech Archer who can fire bolts and arrows, as per Polygon, who got some time with the game. The Gadgeteer, who uses a magnetic gauss gun, and Brawler, who uses his mechanical arms to battle, are also a part of BattleCry.

It has been understood that gamers will only be able to play with these five characters in the beta mode that would be added with more characters later. More information can be found at the BattleCry website.

"We've created a strong, distinct multiplayer experience, a new type of action game with fast frenetic multiplayer set in a beautiful world," said Lucas Davis, design director at BattleCry Studios, at the game's unveiling. The game is said to arrive in Beta mode by 2015.

On the games' announcement post, the game's Executive Producer, Rich Vogel, had quite a bit to say, from introducing the game's director - Viktor Antonov (Dishonoured, Half-Life 2) - to describing the free-to-play experience:

"From day one, we wanted the greatest elements of single-player action games like Devil May Cry and God of War - stunning animations and exciting, visceral combat - and planned to bring those features to the world of competitive multiplayer games. We then combined those awesome elements with the rock-solid tenets of competitive design such as the combat loops and time-to-engagement of the best shooters in the world. This combination is ambitious but the challenge has paid off.

Beyond combat, we wanted to offer something else to players - an original IP. In this new universe where traditional warfare is dead and gunpowder is outlawed, we looked to a striking fictional world directed by Viktor Antonov - well known for his amazing work on Dishonored and Half-Life 2 - to help reveal the story of the Panasophic Revolution...

Our commitment to community and players also means ensuring that BATTLECRY's core gameplay experience will always be free. You only purchase the items you want - things to change your appearance or to add something special. In our games, it's skill and time spent in the game that determines success; there are no purchases you must make simply to remain competitive. We set out from the beginning to not make just another Free-to-Play game, but to bring the commitment to quality and craftsmanship Bethesda is known for with an original game world all our own. We wanted to make a F2P game like no other."