One of the main features we’ve focused on expanding in Sanctum 2 is customization. We saw customization as something central for Sanctum 1, so naturally for the successor, it had to be better in every way. However, when I talk about customization in Sanctum-terms I’m not referring to picking your character’s eye color or styling hair; I’m referring to customizing a loadout of badass weapons, powerful towers, and perks that will completely break the game. Read on!
One of the most exciting additions to Sanctum 2 compared to its predecessor is the perk-system. However, perks in Sanctum 2 won’t be similar to the usual perks many are accustomed to when playing first-person shooters. There will be no flat “+10% damage” or “+200 hp” perks. We want perks to be completely game-changing and heavily influence the game.
For example, there is one perk in Sanctum 2 that grants the ability to run 1% faster for every shot fired, and stacks up to 50 times. There is another that delivers damage when jumping on enemies, and there is a third that zaps all enemies in that are nearby. Combine all these three perks with rapid fire weapons and the end result is lightning-fast, jumping, and bouncing deaths on the battlefield! At the current moment, there are three perk slots and a ton of perks to choose from. We want perks to help players find new play styles instead of small buffs.
Pick the “Against All Odds” perk and then run headfirst into big groups of enemies!
To illustrate a completely different example, there’s a certain perk that delivers more damage the closer players are to the Core. Combine this with the “long-range rockets” perk that makes explosives more effective the further they travel, and players can sit on top of the Core and obliterate the other half of the map with rockets and other explosives. The main game design phrase for the Perk-system during the development of Sanctum 2 has been “GO BANANAS!”
One thing we enjoyed about Sanctum 1 was that every enemy was best countered by a specific tower, and we want to keep that strategic depth in Sanctum 2 as well. Sanctum 1, however, only had 6 towers at launch day, while Sanctum 2 will have 16. There will be several fan-favorite towers from Sanctum 1 returning, but they are updated with sleek new looks. In addition, there’ll also be new towers we’ve always wanted to develop but never had the budget for.
One of our new towers in the arsenal of the Core Guardians is the Automatic Crowd Pummeler. It does very high damage in a small AoE to all units around it. Excellent for taking out groups of enemies, but is quite effective against armored targets as well.
The popular Lightning Tower from Sanctum 1 has returned and looks more badass than ever. It does extremely high single-target damage, and upgrading it causes the lightning to bounce to additional enemies.
The Mine Dispenser is quite different from what you may be used to. Instead of firing at enemies, it produces landmines before every wave, which may then be place anywhere on the map.
Sanctum 1 had 3 weapons on launch, Sanctum 2 will have 8. We’ve put a lot of work into making our weapons as dynamic and different from each other as possible. We wanted unconventional weapons that require just as much strategy as quick reflexes to use. Every weapon in Sanctum 2 will have a secondary fire mode, so players will have to actively switch between weapons and firing modes to adapt to their situation. The best players will even adapt their maze layouts to the kind of weapon they’re using.
For example, the Voltaic Hand Cannon’s primary fire shoots and orb of lightning that pierces through all enemies in a straight line. This makes the weapon work great when walls are built in a way that forces enemies to walk in long, straight lines. Its secondary fire shoots orbs that home in on enemies, and is great against enemies that are fast and good at dodging primary fire.
Customization and replay value go hand-in-hand. When playing Sanctum 2, we want to encourage players to constantly try new combinations of weapons, towers, and perks. We want players to find a combo that they think is awesome. We play tons of Sanctum 2 at the office, but I’m sure we haven’t tried out all crazy combinations that are possible, so we’re looking forward to seeing our players’ favorite strategies when the game releases this summer.
Armin Ibrisagic
Game Designer
Coffee Stain Studios
