Firaxis Games: This is our original version of "Children of the Night"
In the eastern part of Massachusetts, USA, there is a port city called "Salem". Three hundred years ago, one of the most famous "witch hunts" in human history took place here. To this day, the incident, commonly known as the Salem Trial, continues to favor this ancient city with conspiracy theories and popular culture. H· P. Lovecraft's "Arkham" town, which has been wrapped in a strange atmosphere and mysterious events for many years, is based on this -
That's why Tony Stark doesn't like it here. As a billionaire with world-leading technology, there's nothing more awkward than being surrounded by wizards, vampires, hell judges, and living in a spooky monastery protected by magical powers.
But the good news is that all this will only bring long-lost warmth and intimacy to "you" - especially now that the world is under the attack of demons.
Doctor Strange and Nicole Bruno are both sorry for waking "you", a demon hunter from seventeenth-century descent, from their slumber. But because the situation was so urgent, they really had no other choice. Not long ago, the Hydra, who had more than enough success and failure, resurrected a super villain who was both powerful and threatening with Thanos, Lilith, the Demon Mother, and not long after she came back to life, the most important supernatural power defense mechanism on Earth, Doctor Strange's Holy Sanctuary, was attacked by a powerful magical force. After that, the Scarlet Witch, along with the most important sacred weapons, fell into the hands of Hydra.
And Salem Abbey, where we are now, is the only place on earth that has not been affected by Lilith. While governed by two powerful witches, it's also a "hunter" – your resting place. Since his death with Lilith three hundred years ago, members of the Night Children have been dormant here for a long time in preparation for crises like today's.
See, the one standing directly below the title of "Children of the Night" is "The Hunter", and his or her image is up to you
Well, I know it's a lot different from the "Rise of the Night Boys" that you watched in the '90s, in terms of setting and story details. But Firaxis Games, which masterminded everything behind it, will tell you that this is their new version of "Rise of the Children of the Night" tailored for the current era. In this universe, the Mother of Devils is far more evil and powerful than in the past, and the cornered Avengers can only stand with the Children of the Night, along with an X-Men - if that is not enough against Lilith, then it is time for "you" to work.
So next, let's talk about "your" responsibility and ability.
"Hunter", the only human in this world who has inherited Lilith's legendary bloodline, has shown a strong combat potential no less than the Mother of Devils since childhood under the cultivation of two witches. On the battlefield, the usual double knife and magic can help you quickly deal with any miscellaneous soldiers from the Hydra or the depths of hell, and using the position of friend or foe, the battlefield environment, and everything you can use is a familiar combat skill. At the same time, the two-sided power flowing through your body gradually becomes more active with this awakening and contact with modern heroes. One day, you will choose between darkness and light.
But no matter how powerful it is, being alone is still not a good choice to fight evil. To this end, the heroes of the monastery, under your leadership, will form a three-person response team and travel around the world, among which the hunters are mainly engaged in the battle against Lilith. Eliminating crises from around the world on a magical prop called the "Mirror Table" has become a daily obligator.
The "mirror table" that takes on tasks every day, with Tony's help, it can provide more accurate task details
And as it is said in "Sun Tzu's Art of War", only by knowing oneself and knowing the other can one fight a hundred battles. So, let me introduce your team.
Counting the "hunters" of the leader, a total of twelve combatable heroes (or more) live in Salem Abbey? Most of them have long been known through movies and comic books. These modern heroes have all kinds of bells and whistles with special abilities - the blade warrior can restore his life while harming enemies; Enemies judged by the Ghost Knight will be turned into a soul supply (maximum health); Secretaries can teleport enemies to where they want them through the edge of hell; Captain America is able to taunt enemies and provide maximum protection for the team; After Captain Marvel activated the double star form, he filled both output and defense. In addition, we have Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Scarlet Witch, Doctor Strange, Nicole Bruno... These people's different positioning and huge differentiation of active and passive abilities ensure that this "supernatural version of the Avengers" can cope with various types of crises. And you can always see new possibilities for cooperation from them.
I know, in some previous parallel world, you've seen how the "Avengers" dragged themselves and the universe down with boring "gear driven". But rest assured, this time will never be repeated, because times have long been different. In this reality, creators know better how to make things fun. Therefore, they decided to give superheroes a more special mode of behavior - cards.
Of course, I'm not referring to some X-Men's physical "cards." Using eight cards to match the heroes with tactics beforehand turned out to be quite fun. If you have a chance, you should also see how the Secret Visitor sent the Hydra Thug through the portal into the rift opened by the Hellknight (the Blade Warrior gave a thumbs up).
Although I don't know if it is appropriate before the end of the world, this is obviously a fun thing: on the one hand, you can still talk and beat up the annoying villains with handsome moves; On the other hand, using cards to control the situation also gives you the best opportunity to keep your brain active while exercising your power. After all, here, the number of cards and free movement in each round will be limited, and those supervillains corrupted by Lilith are not vegetarians, so it is natural to command the team to find the most profitable way to fight.
Or, to use something more dramatic, you can think of "cards" as individual action commands - what you can do on the battlefield depends on how you planned your team beforehand, and "drawing cards on the field" may also carry a little risk, but it is definitely not beyond our control. And in addition to simply attacking the enemy, rescuing hostages, capturing villains, and even eliminating threats need to be carried out through them. Tactically, different skills will of course bring additional advantages, such as "quick" action, which can earn us time to move again after defeating the enemy (return the number of cards dealt), knock the enemy away to deal more indirect damage, and even drastically change the position on the field. Take advantage of these and your actions will be more effective with less.
Fly enemies onto obstacles or another enemy to gain more output
In addition, to be a "superhero" in the twenty-first century, there is another thing you must know, that is, "heroism".
On the battlefield, the heroes' cards will be divided into "normal" and "heroes", the former only needs to consume the number of cards played to activate, while the latter needs to pay the corresponding "heroism". This unique resource can be accumulated by using ordinary cards, or it can be used as an exchange item when using environmental attacks, in short, if you want to play the superhero-like cool effects of comics, you must accumulate "heroism". When used properly, they will become the most pragmatic resource you have on hand, and combined with your perpetual tactical control over the squad, it completely eliminates the possibility of embarrassing situations such as "nothing to do".
So, beyond the skills that the heroes possessed from the beginning, how should we expand our deck? Speaking of which, I need to reintroduce you to the environment where the hero currently lives, Salem Abbey.
In good conscience, it also seems a little too inhuman to say that "fighting Lilith" is the only reason you are awakened. Even the most powerful superheroes can't work in the face of a precarious apocalypse. While serving as a combat headquarters, the monastery also caters to everyone's physical and spiritual needs, with a bar, library, fitness and yoga studios, magic spas, and even a living room with 4K HDTV and game consoles, all equipped and related activities to make up for all the good things you miss during your slumber – after all, saving the world is only a small part of life.
For you, the current monastery is simply a lively university dormitory. After waking up, Tony teaches you to use the superhero-only social platform "Superlink", where people post about their roommates or gags every day in their spare time when they don't need to fight, and on sunny days, everyone gathers in the recreation room to read books or watch a few bad movies. And if you want, you can even participate in club events organized by them – of course, even if you don't like socializing, I would recommend you to participate.
In Robbie and Peter's craft lessons, they always create some "gadgets" that are good for combat; At Eric and Carol's book club, everyone will exchange new tactics and reading tips, but unfortunately Steve seems to have some interesting misunderstandings about the purpose of Blade Warrior; At a metaphysical gathering known simply as "EMO Kid", Strange and Nicole will try to use magic to help you recover your memories before death and find Lilith's weaknesses. All in all, if you want to see the superhero gossip that the Horn Daily can't make, this is definitely a good place.
Leisure activities
But just like Iron Man and Captain America's respective attitudes toward the Transhuman Registration Act (although they don't mention it now), opinions will always be divided, especially superheroes. Perhaps considering that the "hunters" are the main force against Lilith, they all seem to be willing to give you a face - from then on, regulating and choosing your own interpersonal and social relationships has become one of your daily tasks.
If the timing is right, you can do yoga with your favorite superhero, go bird watching in the jungle, gaze up at the stars together, or choose a gift to give them when the atmosphere is just right, as if the end of the world hadn't happened. Three hundred years of completely blank social resume, you can build your own superhero network without scruples, enrich the character and emotions of the "hunter".
Since being awakened, you've been gaining more power (cards) from battle and life, and Tony and Stephen have even used the Fire Demon to set up a magical forge in the monastery that can tackle both scientific and magical problems. There, Tony can quickly analyze the loot you got from the previous battle and turn them into new cards. The only downside is that even Tony himself doesn't know exactly what kind of moves he can make – and you might need a little bit of luck in this matter.
But in the matter of researching new equipment, they are much more reliable. With a few resources, they'll be able to build the cutting-edge technology you need most, and Blade will help you train your existing combat skills in the morning, so that the heroes won't always be at a disadvantage in this crisis.
Two identical skills can be synthesized to enhance them
However, to the older caretakers of the monastery, the power flowing in your blood is just as a headache. After all, whether light or dark, they have the same roots as Lilith, and your words and actions towards others, as well as the style of power favored on the battlefield, can upset the balance between the two powers. At that point, you may have a stronger light/dark power, or you may create a worse situation – the last thing we want.
The stronger the sense of morality and empathy, the closer the hunter's attributes will be to the light, and vice versa
And for you, this three-hundred-year-old monastery is also full of mysteries. The reason for Lilith's fall, the reason why the Scarlet Witch left, the truth about the witch hunt three hundred years ago, and the remnants of the ancient gods are scattered in this strange area centered on the monastery. To this end, you also began to selectively explore the surrounding area -
As it turns out, those gods and witches really left too many mysteries here. Although most of them can only be exchanged for less important "skin color", considering that this is the only way to get close to your origin (after all, this is a completely original story), this little adventure in the apocalypse-packed has quite a few positives.
Once used to judge the Salem witches, the devil knows what happened here
To be honest, as another apocalyptic crisis that threatens multiple dimensions, Lilith's resurrection can't even be ranked in the top ten of the "most exciting events" I've ever seen. But compared to the "game" universe that used familiar settings and protagonists to narrate in earlier years, it has a first-tier charm and cannot be replaced - even if the time here goes slower overall, so slow that you feel like you're thrown into a superhero university that makes fighting villains a daily course.
Here, the Creator of the universe leaves enough room for you to squander tactical value. And for the rest of the time, you can write "yourself" stories, which even our observers have not seen.