Thanks to the invitation of 2K China, we had the honor to interview Matt Cox, creative director of "Little Tina's Fantasy Land", and Kent Rochefort, the main producer of "House of Chaos Mode", during which they explained in detail the new "House of Chaos" mode added to "Little Tina's Fantasy Land".
Matt Cox on the left and Kent Rochefort on the right
(The accompanying picture is only a schematic, and has nothing to do with the content of the article)
The House of Chaos is a dungeon of six rooms and two bosses, where everything is chaotic and random. Players can play against more powerful enemies, face new and unknown challenges, test their own equipment and builds, and get powerful equipment that is not available in story mode.
Under this framework, the "House of Chaos" is divided into normal modes and several extended modes.
Normal mode is easier to understand, both enemies, level layouts, bosses, etc. are randomly generated, it is more like the traditional Roguelite we are familiar with.
As for several expansion modes, one is "Feature Run", in which all players play the same map, but the map is refreshed by a random generator every week. Players can compete with others here every week for speed.
The second is "Chaos Mode". There is a concept of Chaos levels in this mode, and each time you complete a loop, you will unlock higher levels, and the rewards that players can get will get better and better.
After defeating the final boss of a loop, the player will come to the loot room. Here, players can consume crystals earned during dungeon loops by clearing rooms and completing side quests. Crystals are the currency in the Chaos Lobby, and they disappear at the end of the loop, so the player needs to spend them all in a loop.
There are several rabbit statues in the loot room, each corresponding to an equipment category, such as rifles, shotguns, rings, etc. Feeding them crystals will randomly get the equipment under the corresponding category, which gives the player the possibility of choosing the equipment category they want under the randomness.
In addition to this, in the first room, the player can choose a "curse". There are three levels of curses: "Easy", "Normal", and "Difficult", and the higher the level, the stronger the negative effect of debuff on the player. But not all curses are bad, it actually looks more like an investment, and if the player chooses a difficult curse, then more loot can be obtained in the loop.
Corresponding to the curse, players will find some altars during the game, where crystals can be used to buy some buffs that are only effective in a single game, such as increasing damage or movement/attack speed, and some can even change the way the player plays. This gives the player a choice: buy more buffs to complete the round more easily, or accumulate crystals and buy more powerful equipment in the final loot room.
Finally, special bosses will appear in the dungeon, and special rewards will be awarded after defeating them. The player finds them by carefully finding and solving the puzzles hidden in the room. At the end of each round of the game, there will also be bosses at the bottom of the level, which are stronger than the bosses in the main story, and in order to bring more challenges to the player, these bosses will change according to the player's current strength in terms of values and mechanics.
The above is a detailed explanation brought to us by the two main creators for the "House of Chaos Mode", and I also asked some relevant content about this new model, the following is the details of the interview:
Q: What is the "chaos" of the House of Chaos?
A: In addition to the random elements in the regular mode, another important part of the "chaos" can be reflected, that is, the "chaos mode" mentioned above, in which the player can unlock the next level after completing a round of the game. The highest Chaos level that players can unlock temporarily is level 20, but in our design, the Chaos level can be stacked indefinitely, and after the game is officially launched, we will continue to increase the Chaos level online, so that players can continue to have more difficult challenges to test their build.
At the same time, "Chaos Equipment" with completely different attributes and entries from the original equipment will be dropped in Chaos mode. These pieces of equipment will make your build more powerful and strong enough to support the player to use several levels in a row. Therefore, players do not have to repeatedly brush a certain type of equipment in order to adapt to the difficulty of the chaos level.
Q: When can players play House of Chaos mode? Do I have to play through the game to enter or can I enter at any time?
A: The House of Chaos is only open after the player has completed the level, you don't need to complete every mission of the game, but you need to complete the main storyline.
Q: In Little Tina's Fantasy Lands, players can have both classes at the same time. Are there any ways in House of Chaos mode where players can experience other classes?
A: The player controls the characters in the story mode in the House of Chaos, and if you want to experience different classes in this mode, you must create a new character and open the story mode.
Q: The House of Chaos mode gives the player a way to improve the character, but after a period of time, the player's equipment will eventually improve, what can be the motivation for the player to continue playing?
A: We will continue to add new challenges to the game. In addition, showing off their speed of leveling and the powerful equipment they have obtained to others is also one of the funs for many players. In the game, there's a thing called the Victory Screen, which has everything you need in the dungeon, such as damage data, curses and blessings received, and your character and equipment, which can be shared.
Q: Is the House of Chaos mode available to any player, or is it only available to players who purchase a season pass?
A: We'll be announcing details about the Season Pass later and how it affects the House of Chaos mode. All I can say is that the special patterns in the Hall of Chaos change every week or every other week.
Q: Can players use the equipment they brushed in the House of Chaos in the Main Body Game or in future DLC?
A: Of course, all the equipment the player gets in the House of Chaos can be used in the official content or in future DLC, the only thing that cannot be retained is the crystal currency obtained in this mode, so the player needs to spend them before the end of the round.
Q: Playing with friends is a very important part of the fun of Borderlands 3, can I also play with friends in The House of Chaos mode?
A: Yes, you can play with friends as you would in the main stream. In addition, when playing the House of Chaos mode online, the team will share three lives, and if your teammates are dead and you survive, then you will have to be doubly careful in the next game.
Q: Will the House of Chaos mode continue to be updated in the future, and what kind of content will be updated?
A: We certainly have plans to update this mode, and we will add more rooms, enemies, and equipment in the future. In our design, the house of chaos is very scalable. But even when the game first came out, House of Chaos "monopolized" a lot of drops that weren't in story mode, each one unique and fun.
Q: It sounds like fighting in the House of Chaos will be very interesting, so can players experience other elements besides combat during the gameplay of this mode? Such as a random puzzle level?
A: In The House of Chaos, the way to move from one room to the next is to find the "skull" hidden in the map and destroy it. Finding bosses also requires solving some puzzles. They are largely identical in form, but in different positions in each level. Players need to look carefully for observation.
Q: There are a lot of interesting Dungeons & Dragons elements in Tina's Fantasy Lands, such as dice that randomly give players items, can you see them in House of Chaos mode?
A: Yes, the House of Chaos is also in the world of Diotino Wonderland, and all the Elements of Dungeons & Dragons in the story mode such as dice and dragons will appear in the House of Chaos, and an important way to get crystals in the House of Chaos is to break the dice in the scene.
Q: The narration of Tina and NPCs in Little Tina's Fantasy Land will bring a lot of unique fun to the game, is there also this content in the House of Chaos?
A: It's not convenient for us to disclose about this, but the House of Chaos also exists in Tina's brain full of chaotic thoughts, and that's all we can say.
Q: There are many players in China who love the Borderlands series, is there anything to say to Borderlands fans in China?
A: I'm glad you enjoyed our game, and we're looking forward to seeing you in Little Tina's Fantasy Lands on March 25th.