E3 2018 Rend Interview With Jeremy Wood; Info On Construction, Pets, and More

Published: June 19, 2018 4:35 PM /

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rend art

I learned some new information about the faction-based, fantasy survival game Rend while at E3 and had the opportunity to speak with Jeremy Wood about the game. Most of what I learned is from the current build of the game, with a lot more updates coming soon. Check out the roadmap of the game here to see what’s coming in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Tkh7Rrrq_k

In the above interview I spoke to Jeremy Wood about things like what he thinks of a min/max community approaching Rend, what kind of a gap players can expect between those who play a lot and those who can’t as much, and a whole host of other questions related to how Rend will work as a game.

I learned that the world of Rend is based on Norse mythology, a thing that is becoming more common in games these days it seems. In that world, Asgard has been destroyed, the debris of which you can still see floating in the skies above. The world is coming to an end, but it’s up to you to collect souls for the world tree Yggdrasil to try to rebirth life. So, if you needed to know why you do what you do in Rend, you’re of course trying to save the world.

rend base building
A Rend faction base.

Construction has seen an update, utilizing a framing system to build structures the way you want. You put down a foundation, build up some framing, then choose the final material you want that to be. It’s simple, and the developer said it was slightly changed after they saw what Fortnite was doing. They liked the idea of being able to use this framing to get around the world a little easier by creating ramps or other structures.

We also talked a bit about customizing your character through choices in a bunch of different talent tress. This is a key design point for Rend, which has led to many different skill, class, and crafting trees for you to pursue. There are four different classes to choose from, each of which you can go down as much as you want to create your character how you want. Of course, you won’t be able to reach the end of all of those class trees, so you many not have access to some of their most powerful abilities if you hybridize too much.

rend research crafting ui
This is the current UI (subject to change) of research. The more you research, the more recipes you'll have for crafting.

All of crafting goes down huge trees as well. Crafting one thing will lead to one or more branches of materials or items you can create, and so on. This is furthered by recipes and schematics you can find and research. Researching down different crafting disciplines could open up entirely new trees for you to pursue.

This is key to the gameplay loop of upgrading your character. You'll constantly be searching for new materials, researching new recipes, and upgrading your gear as you play. What you're looking for, or stumble upon, will change what you're looking for and where you look. You'll be gathering, researching, crafting new gear, using that gear to get better materials and recipes ... and so on. Boiling it down sounds boring, but as in the interview above, going out to work on getting new gear will often lead you down other trails, sidetracking you with the many different things you can do. You may come across a new material, item, or recipe that totally derails what you're searching for, sending you off somewhere else.

In the end, there will be hundreds of little choices you’ll make all along the way as you play your character, which pretty much guarantees it will be at least a little different from everyone else.

rend elk forest
An elk you'll be able to tame if you wish. There will be a lot more creatures in the final game.

All of the creatures in the world will be tameable and mountable in some fashion as well. Even this big worm we saw, which may not be quick, but it will get you where you need to go. They serve as more than just vehicles, too, as they can aid you in combat and will forage for resources nearby when you’ve left them idle. They’re all unique and bring with them different abilities to help you succeed or gather what you need.

They also mentioned that Rend is being built with modding in mind and will have a whole suite of tools for modders to mess around with to create pretty much any game they wanted. The developer I spoke to said they do not have plans to make a Battle Royale mode of Rend, but modders will certainly have the ability to.

All in all, it seems that Rend is moving along quite nicely, and hopefully I’ll be able to check out the alpha as they cruise through the roadmap to give some hands-on impressions. As a reminder, Rend is in the alpha stages, so everything above is subject to change.

Check out our E3 2018 Coverage Hub for all of the latest E3 info.

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Andrew Otton
| Editor in Chief

Andrew is the Editor in Chief at TechRaptor. Conned into a love of gaming by Nintendo at a young age, Andrew has been chasing the dragon spawned by Super… More about Andrew

More Info About This Game
Learn more about Rend
Game Page Rend
Developer
Frostkeep Studios
Publisher
Frostkeep Studios
Platforms
PC
Release Date
December 31, 1969 (Calendar)
Genre
Survival
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