Chief Rebel’s Fellowship will be standing out from the RPG crowd in a number of ways. Not only will Fellowshipskip the MMO grind with a streamlined experience, it will bring the endgame forward—instituting an Endless mode in its place.
The Fellowship early access release will soon be upon the gaming public, and Chief Rebel has packed this pseudo-MMO—or ‘MODA’ (Multiplayer Online Dungeon Adventure) as the game is being termed—with a unique scheme for accessibility. Fellowship will look to replace the grind towards exciting dungeon-clearing antics with those dungeons themselves, bringing the endgame experience forwards. Game Rant sat down with members of the Chief Rebel team, including designer Will Maiden and UX designer Ambjörn Olsson, who spoke about what this endgame looks like and the 'endless scalability' it pursues.
How Fellowship's Endless Mode Works
The Nature of Endless in Fellowship
What's important to understand about the Endless mode in Fellowshipis its place in the game's larger goals. Fellowship is all about taking aspects of session-based multiplayer games to streamline the RPG experience, booting players straight into dungeons with off-the-shelf character builds and Quickplay matchmaking that puts players in parties fast.
However, the progression of Fellowshipstill requires higher and higher stakes, which is where Endless comes in. Olsson discussed what this progression towards Endless will look like in-game, including how players will be prepared for the difficulty hike during gameplay:
"In Fellowship you will start out with “leagues” which will guide the player into our way of doing dungeons and showing the players how it works. As players climb upwards in the leagues and make progress, they will encounter new mechanics and more difficult enemies which will prepare them for Endless mode!"
The different leagues within the game can serve as an easy stand-in for different tiers of progression, something that the developers spoke about further in relation to the march towards Fellowship's Endless difficulty. In particular, Maiden added more detail on how Endless compares to regular progression, as well as some of the challenges players can expect from the mode.
Fellowship's Endless Endgame
"Endless is our “endgame”, if you can call it that. I think a lot of casual, or interested players will look at the leagues as the “progression” and see that as a good milestone to try to achieve. We wanted to make sure there’s something for every type of player. For casual players, the Quickplay mode will allow players to jump into the game and be adventuring in minutes, not needing to worry about scaling difficulties, or gear; just picking a hero and learning the mechanics. Once they feel they’re ready for a scaling challenge, they can climb the leagues and start to chase loot for real. Here, some casual players will find their “limit”, but we hope most will see how compelling it is to challenge themselves and push through higher difficulties.
Unlocking Endless is a real achievement, and from then on, it’s all about player skill. Loot is capped, so it’s going to come down to how well players have learned their heroes, learned the dungeons, and have a response to the ever-increasing difficulties the mode throws at them. For the most competitive members of the community, this is going to be what Fellowship is all about."
The gameplay of Fellowshipwill mirror many an MMO, sticking closely to the tank-healer-DPS 'holy trinity' that's become the standard across the genre (and indeed gaming generally). Nevertheless, Endless mode represents another way Fellowship is going in a different direction compared to its peers; not only has the typical endgame been moved up, the 'endgame' of Endless removes any typical conclusion. Players will max out on their loot, but the increasing difficulty scale will ensure players don't reach a point of game-wide effortlessness.
