Raining death and destruction

The Bible might not be the most obvious of choices to form the basis of an action game, but from angelic first person shooter "Requiem" to third person cherub 'em up "Messiah", religion has played an active role in several recent games. Valkyrie Studio's "Seraphim" is one of the first games we've come across to be directly inspired by legends from the Bible though, with the player taking on the role of a fallen angel as three rival factions battle it out in a stunning landscape, courtesy of the Unreal engine. And given the kind of apocalyptic firepower that God tends to throw around in the Old Testament, from reducing people to pillars of salt to letting rip with a bit of the old fire and brimstone, it should come as no surprise that combat amongst the fallen angels in Seraphim is going to be a spectacular affair...

"Combatants are slinging spells off of their rune-covered weapons, while destruction rains down around them from their opponents, who all have their own favorite spells and strategy", Valkyrie told PC Paradox in a recent interview. "Some spells may cause conditions that temporarily affect the opponent's controls or abilities, which will add different strategic considerations - the player's choice in spells and weapons are going to the core of his strategy. Balancing his favorite offensive and defensive spells during the character creation phase is really going to determine how a player fights in Seraphim."

Of course, it's not all about magic and acts of God - players will also have access to a range of dirty big swords and other melee weapons to unleash on their enemies. "The player will probably end up using magic spells a lot more than his sword in Seraphim", according to Valkyrie. "But a player who masters the sword or the hammer will be fearsome in all situations."