Players will switch between two main modes of gameplay. Combat and platforming. The combat section will be in arenas versus a group of enemies. The combat will focus on player mastery of the inherent systems and will change little from beginning to end. The player may face different enemies along the way but they will fight them with the same base skillset. The platforming sections will be how the players traverse from one key area to another. The titan battles will be where those two styles of play come closer together. The player will have to platform around the titan to tie them up with silk. While they are trying to platform enemies will get in their way and interfere with them. The titan fights are meant to be giant set pieces that the player interacts with in set ways.
Run, Wall Run, Climb, Fight, Swing using silk, Let out silk behind them, pin silk, tie up enemies (Potential pacifist bonus for subduing enemies without killing them, as the enemies are doing this against their will, however any pacifist option should be much more challenging to accomplish).
The player can run along walls to cover gaps they could not normally with a jump. They will also be able to wall run on the titans however its very high risk because if the titans move to much the player will fall off while wall running.
The player’s will try to tie up titans to purify them by pinning silk to them. Once the player pin’s silk to the first key point in the titan silk will start flowing behind them and can be used in a couple ways. They can pin to a non important point to “save” their progress. If the player falls they just have to grab the silk and they can climb or swing back to a point without falling all the way to the ground.
While the player is swinging from silk or is in the process of tying a titan they can hold down the left trigger to grip the silk more or less tightly. By default when the trigger is not pulled the silk comes out freely. The player wouldn’t want to this when they need more leeway (For example if they pull the left trigger while wall running they’d run out of silk and get yanked to a stop. However if the player just jumped out in space and wanted to swing they would want to hit left trigger. This mechanic also allows players to naturally control their descent if they are clinging from a rope.
If the player pushes A while next to a climbable area (vines) they will jump onto the vines and get into a climbing state. Pressing B while in a climbing state will cause the player to drop down. If the player is below a grabbable ledge they will automatically latch onto it and climb up. Think Darksiders for climbing.
To purify all of the gods of the council so that the can once again defeat Ahriman and restore balance to the world. Purifying each god burns their insignia onto the magic bag giving it a particular extra ability. This would be themed with the god’s theme.
When the gods were enslaved so were their minions. Each god has a set of enemy types associated with them. Their abilities and attacks would tie into their gods theme. The potential problem in this is that it doesn’t allow enemies to be repeated, however some basic enemies could be re skinned to fit the gods theme while retaining similar mechanics to give a continuity to the combat. The more difficult enemies would be the ones that are swapped out. Alternatively a story macguffin could be made up saying that the minions are controlled by Ahriman, this would lose out on the opportunity to theme enemies based on their god though.
Arena combat using 1 of 3 weapons meteor hammer, rope dart, or roped knives. The combat would have two main modes, agile and planted. Agile has some moves that can be used but doesn’t have the power behind a an attack from a strong base. Planted would open up options for the player (more control over their attacks), as well as increase the power behind them. However in the planted state the player cannot dodge attacks. They might be able to counter attacks however there should be some attacks that you need to dodge (heavy attacks) to force them out of planted mode. The goal is to make both modes of combat useful in different situations without forcing the player in either direction. Ideally the player would perform best by switching in and out of these two modes. The different weapon types change the style of combat. The meteor hammer is good for trips and strikes, while the rope dart is good for throws, and tangling the enemy. Rope knives would be a primarily lethal weapon, essentially the player throws and retrieves knives from enemies, this weapon has very little power to disable enemies and is primarily meant for damage. (The knives are optional just thought they’d be an interesting addition)
In planted mode the camera zooms out to a more top down view and the player can now input directional attacks with the left stick. Different inputs will determine the type of attack that comes out. The player also has to aim the attack in the direction of an enemy. In planted mode the player is always attempting to kill or disable enemies before they reach the player because they can’t dodge and will have to leave the mode or take damage.
Stingers, Sweeps, and, Double Tap, Hold back then stinger forward, hold forward, 360.
In this mode moves have momentum and the player steps into attacks. The player is much harder to hit however they have less power behind their attacks because they don’t have a good base. The player will want to use this mode while fighting enemies that are fast and hard to pin down. Camera control will function the same or similarly to how it works during platforming sections.
Heavy weapon. The attacks are slower but crowd control better. Heavy attacks almost always knock down enemies. Heavy attacks with this weapon are particularly slow. Sweeps are particularly good at knocking down enemies however smaller enemies will always be knocked down by heavy attacks from this weapon.
This weapons sits in the middle between the knives and the meteor hammer in that it is moderately fast inflicts damage and only has a few moves that crowd control. The main advantage of this weapon is that the tip can wrap around enemies for the player to grab and throw them. The player could potentially throw a grabbed enemy into a nearby enemy to knock down two at once.
In agile mode knives are a much closer form of combat (stabbing). However in planted mode the player throws knives at enemies for increased range compared to the other weapons. This weapon inflicts the most damage but has literally no ability to crowd control.
Pits and cliffs, the titans themselves would be platforming challenges even though they are animate.
There could be player scores so the player could try to perfect every encounter? There are 3 weapons with different styles of play. Besides that not much replay value. Could give an achievement to the player for completing the entire game by only subduing enemies which would be a significant challenge (A pacifist run if you will).