Blizzard announces Talebound, a PvE action RPG mode for Midnight

Talebound overview

Blizzard has announced Talebound, a new PvE action RPG game mode coming to Midnight with the Echoes of the Worldcore content update. In it, Red Hollow draws in unwitting travelers and a mysterious Storyteller pulls them into tales that lean toward the macabre.

The mode can be played solo or with friends. Players explore themed levels filled with enemies, bosses, puzzles, treasure, relics, and rewards, and confront the terrors waiting just beyond the next page.

Quillgrave: Your Haven from Horrors

Between adventures, players return to Quillgrave, a cozy, lantern-lit village offering warmth and respite from the darkness beyond. Players can rest, hang their cap, and sip hot cocoa, but the village and the Storyteller do not appreciate an unfinished story, so planning for upcoming horrors is required.

Once rested, players take up arms and work through the telling and retelling of tales that test their skills and abilities. Talebound launches with four stories, each with its own settings, enemies, and boss encounters, including witches, giants, marshals, bishops, deep-sea horrors, and nightmare royalty. Collections of the stories are also available in town for those who wish to hear them again.

• Darkhaven: home to Konrad von Sonnesheim, The Lord Marshal, and Alexandre Dozsenc, The Blood Bishop.
• Greenthistle Wood: houses Granny Greenthumb, Witch of the Woods, Ylska Vilefang, Witch of the Wilds, and Mobog, The Giant of Greenthistle.
• Greywake's Expedition: the tale of the many who have fallen to Zzyg'th, The Hadal Tyrant, and Chathoa, The Herald from Beyond.
• Grove of the Night Court: a chronicle of Tilywth, The Fairy Queen, and Maernok, The Nightmare King.

Talebound classes

Across all classes, movement and defense are central. Every class can double jump, dodge, and guard, making positioning a key part of combat.

Slayer

The Slayer combines martial might with monster hunter knowledge, giving him the physical tools to combat the beasts of folklore. He wields a sword to cut down eldritch foes and a gun for when a blade does not suffice.

• Slash: a sequence of three attacks damaging enemies directly in front of the player, with higher damage and stun on the final blow. Lesser enemies flinch when attacked, making for dynamic combat.
• Explosive Shot: fires a shotgun at enemies in front of the player; closer foes take damage from multiple shots. It can be empowered to deal greater damage.
• Minefield: leaps backward and hurls an arc of mines that damage and slow enemies.
• Shrapnel Round: fires multiple rounds that bounce between foes, damaging each enemy hit.
• Throwing Knives: moves the player quickly and strikes nearby enemies, and can cancel other attacks for fast movement.
• Silver Bolt: leaps into the air and drives a silver bolt into the enemy with the highest health in range, immediately damaging it.

Inquisitor

The Inquisitor's zeal lights every corner and burns the face of evil, no matter the illusions it uses to hide.

• Purify: a sequence of three attacks that damage enemies in front of the player, each strike more powerful than the last.
• Condemn: damages enemies in front of the player, inflicting holy damage and reducing their movement speed. It is castable while moving.
• Denounce: an empowered ability that deals more damage the longer the player stands still and forces enemies to confess.
• Light's Wrath: conjures a wrathful sun above an enemy, burning enemies nearby.
• Rapture: wreathes enemies in damaging flames for a short time; the flames detonate on command.
• Radiant Burst: castable while moving, hurls fire at a nearby target that explodes on impact, burning all nearby enemies.

Witch

The Witch uses lightning, poison, spiders, moonlight, thorns, and ravens to overwhelm enemies with a darker, spell-driven style.

• Brewing Storm: a sequence of three attacks inflicting lightning damage, with the last strike dealing more serious damage.
• Bubbling Cauldron: summons a plague of frogs that leap to random enemies and explode, dealing poisonous damage in a small area.
• Feline Communion: transforms the player into a cat for a short time; in this form a shower of stars damages all nearby enemies, and Crooked Path can be cast to blink forward through moonlight.
• Winter Spiders: summons a swarm that skitters forward, including a brood mother that explodes, dealing serious damage in a small area.
• Moonlight Ravens: a channeled spell cast while moving that summons ravens which seek out and damage nearby targets.
• Thorns: launches thorns that erupt beneath the two nearest enemies.

A market to make survivability possible

After each run of a tale, players return to Quillgrave and work with four vendors to improve their odds in the next attempt.

• Arcanist: provides new potions, draughts, and flasks to be found throughout the tale.
• Scribe: provides talents that change the abilities used to best foes.
• Outfitter: improves starting health, damage, energy, and focus.
• Antiquarian: provides meaningful passives that augment how each tale may be approached.

Rewards and PTR preview

Playing through the tales earns cosmetic rewards, including the Ensemble: Witch Hunter's Shadow Attire transmog set. Players can furnish their homes with haunting decor such as the Quillgrave Storyteller's Lectern and the Quillgrave Talebound Shadowtome, or ride into their next adventure on the Shadowbound Storybook mount, with more to use in Midnight and beyond.

Blizzard states that an early preview of Talebound is coming to the PTR sometime in October.