The year of 2020 has been a year of many unusual turns and twists for many across the world. Some of the major issues across the world caused for a complete cancellation of the convention season in person. Many events shifted to a digital appearance, but the results were a drastically lower attendance at all events. This allowed Elemensional Rift to sit down and focus on many large issues addressed that the normal convention season usually makes difficult to address. The effect of these changes and impacts are yet to be determined but it is still good to share how things have developed throughout the year. Let’s look through what has changed to help make Elemensional Rift better during 2020.
The year started off finishing the new fighter who appeared for DreamHack: Atlanta at the end of 2019. While Selphieroth was playable, her primary attack, the yōkai summon, only had four of the thirteen while at DreamHack. With the full set of yōkai, she has further developed a greater power with the cost of less control. Along with a few other tweaks, she has fully come into a fully fleshed out fighter with much to offer for a wide range of players who are willing to take a chance on her.
After the completion of Selphieroth, there was a large makeover for the character selection to streamline and provide new players with more information about the characters before selecting them. A lot of emphasis has been placed towards helping the player out before they get started so they have a better first impression. As that was completed, transition moved into a new gameplay mode, the onslaught battles. The onslaught battles allow for players to battle with multiple characters and provide more depth into combat strategies, along with adding team planning to the table.
Around this time, there was an interview over by Toptier.gg about making a fighting game. Then it was time to expand the list of helpers that can be summoned by the Helper’s Horn. Two special helpers were added to the roster that also happen to be very good friends of eachother. Both Spectissa and KisakaToriama were added and help add unique traits for their appearances.
With the results of COVID-19 across the world well known and all conventions cancelling meeting in person, this provided the time needed to help further make the changes to the character selection feel new and refreshing by refreshing the entire roster’s character selection image. It was a far lengthier process than expected but well worth the effort. Characters feel more unique and expressive along with the superior graphical upgrade the larger images needed. In addition, the shield displays have been update and made unique to each character, along with fighters draining of color when they run out of energy.
With updates for the beginning of the experience under way, there was a need for the players who have been regularly returning at events that want something new to see. They are being well rewarded with a new guest fighter that goes by the name of Neon the Ninja from the game Neon the Ninja. There was a lot of research and attention to detail to ensure Neon was recreated as accurately as possible for the guest appearance (with everything approved by the developer along the way). While defenses are frail, Neon provides a very aggressive, high pressure fighting style. To further keep opponents on their toes, Neon is capable of bringing some very powerful abilities if given the time to perform them. Be sure not to drop your guard when facing this newest challenger.
Showcasing at events, 2020 has been an empty year but development for Elemensional Rift has been hard at work to be prepared for when events open up again. There is more to come this year but be sure to prepare yourself for a greatly refreshing experience when the next chance to play Elemensional Rift is available. In the meanwhile, there was an interview to wrap up the year of NinRac that you can check out over at ShoutoutAtlanta to hold you over while development continues further.