Dungeon Spotlight: Altar of Blood

Today we’ll be diving into one of Bless Unleashed’s five-man dungeons, “The Savantis Mausoleum - Altar of Blood.” This dungeon debuted during our recent open beta, providing players their first encounters with the mysterious Savantis!

“The Savantis, a secret organization composed of powerful human mages, came into power at the time of the Old Empire. Under the guidance of the dark goddess, Lumenas, they studied magic no others dared to learn. Using a powerful source of magical energy called Prana, the Savantis were able to create entirely new forms of life. But even that was not enough. Obsessed with the idea of creating their own god, their insatiable thirst for power led to the construction of the Nightspire--and ultimately, the terrible cataclysm known as the Breaking, and the fall of the Old Empire.”

In anticipation of the open beta and the release of this content, Round 8 Studio’s Content Designer & Lore Writer ByungSoo Kwon joined us to discuss elements of the mausoleum’s lore, and some of the design decisions behind the dungeon.

Bless Unleashed: What is the story behind the Savantis Mausoleum? 

ByungSoo Kwon: The Savantis Mausoleum is a laboratory where the Savantis conducted their secret magical research and experiments. Only a few key officials within the Savantis’ ranks knew of its existence. Many of the artificial creations, mutations, and failures from this laboratory can be encountered by players throughout the world of Lumios.

By opening the Nightspire the Savantis triggered a catastrophic event known as The Breaking and unleashed a swarm of shadowspawn into Lumios, driving the world to the brink of destruction. An Herbati hero known only as The Warrior King, and his brave companions, including the Archmage Griogair, fought through the army of shadowspawn to deactivate the Nightspire, stop the Breaking, and save Lumios. The Savantis were then executed en masse, and their Mausoleum left in ruins.

But Tiberius, the Savantis’ laboratory director, foresaw the organizations downfall and sealed away their research to save their creations from ever being truly destroyed. Over time, adventurers would seek and find the ruined laboratory, believed lost to the ages, and eventually make their way inside.

Bless Unleashed: What significance does the Altar of Blood play in the story and the dungeon itself? And, who is ‘Vasilios’? 

ByungSoo Kwon: The Altar of Blood is one of the secret labs within the Savantis Mausoleum, for which Vasilios was a researcher tasked with its management. He was sealed away by Tiberius to avoid execution following the Breaking and has now been awakened. 

Vasilios and his creations are unaware of how much the world has changed since the events of the Breaking, and due to his gruesome nature and forbidden magical research, wants to continue his research creating powerful creatures within the Savantis Mausoleum.

Bless Unleashed: Were there any challenges designing this dungeon?

ByungSoo Kwon: The Savantis Mausoleum - Altar of Blood was the first dungeon to be developed for Bless Unleashed. Compared to later dungeons, the overall planning, development goals, and difficulties we faced were quite different. 

Being our first dungeon, there were several issues when it came to our early effect display system, AI tools, and combat system capabilities. Planning proved the most difficult to our development process, requiring we explore numerous ideas and prototypes, as well as host countless lengthy discussions with multiple teams throughout the studio. Ultimately, we decided on the dungeon’s final direction, which we can’t wait to see players experience for the first time during Open Beta, available Nov. 7th - Nov. 21st!

Sincerely yours, 

ByungSoo Kwon