PAX West Spotlight: Gigantic by Arc Games

By: ScarletteArc Games had a continuously capped line for their Gigantic demo and for good reason. I positively loved playing the Gigantic demo, when I wrapped up my first match—a loss, by the way—I immediately wanted to get back in line to play again. What makes Gigantic so appealing to the many MOBA games that are flooding the market, is that it is not strictly a MOBA game. Even though Gigantic plays as if it were a MOBA, it draws plenty of elements from other game genres to try and break the MOBA mold that keeps surrounding them. Runic laughs and says they just call the game a MOBA because it’s the closest thing they can define Gigantic with, and many players can identify with the game much easier that way. Sure, Gigantic may have 5v5 matches, you fight over objectives, and there’s ton of PVP, but the character style of play and talents is what separates Gigantic from others.What I found most appealing about the game is that the characters encompass all kinds of different play styles for gamers from all kinds of genres.  Players aren’t forced into the MOBA style way of playing, but can ease themselves into Gigantic with matching themselves to a character that closely resembles a play style or genre of game that they frequently play. Additionally, the talent system for Gigantic is follows along the lines of what Battleborn and Heroes of the Storm opted to do—but executes it better. Players have a plethora of skills available to them; if memory serves me correctly 5 skills in total, all of which they have the option to dump level points into. Upon leveling a skill, players are able to customize that skill according to how the match is going. For instance, I was playing a support character. His second skill was an AOE attack, once I put my level points into the skill I was able to customize the skill to either do more damage or have a slow effect. Since my team was struggling against high mobility and damage characters, I opted for the slow effect. Players can adjust their strategy and champions on the fly to try and win the match.Gigantic offers a fresh spin on the MOBA genre, while forging a new path for itself. I look forward to seeing the game optimized and featuring a wide roster of characters.Below is a quick interview with Carter, one of the game devs for Gigantic.[iframe id="https://www.youtube.com/embed/neknrW-ehZk"]Sound like your kind of game? Check out their official site here for more information on the game.