One of our biggest inspirations for the Vampire Bat Beast came from our own backyard. Gainesville, Florida is well known for its massive bat population, and we knew we had to create our own monstrous take on them!

As the first true flying Beast in the game, the Vampire Bat introduces an entirely new playstyle. Her powerful wings can carve through buildings and she's the only Beast capable of stunning her opponents, leaving them vulnerable to follow-up attacks. She may be the smallest Beast of the bunch, but she's also the fastest and arguably the most aggressive.

In her earliest designs, The Vampire Bat actually gave us more trouble than we expected. We initially designed her to primarily be a quadruped with only a handful of flying attacks. If we're being honest - we were trying to avoid the technical challenges of creating a fully flying Beast. However the Vampire Bat is the smallest Beast on the roster and when she was walking on all fours, she would disappear between buildings. It made her difficult to see, less satisfying to control, and ultimately not very fun to smash cities with. We realized that if we wanted her to stand out and be fun to play, we needed to embrace her natural abilities. The Vampire Bat had to fly! 

Making that change meant rebuilding nearly all of her animations and gameplay from the ground up. It was a huge undertaking, but it completely transformed the Beast, and it was absolutely worth it. Now we have a Beast that captures everything we wanted from her: fast, aggressive, destructive, and incredibly satisfying to smash cities with.

Apex Drop - With a swift dive, she snatches her opponents and carries them high above the battlefield before hurling them back down to the ground with a bone-crushing impact.

Attack Cyclone - She launches herself into a violent aerial spin using her massive wings to create a cyclone powerful enough to tear through anything in its path.

Serum Syphon - Uses her talons to grab and pin opponents in place before draining their life with her vampire fangs, restoring a small amount of her HP.

Echolocation Stun - With a powerful echolocation screech, the Vampire Bat can stun her enemies leaving them defenseless against her next attack.

Force Winds - The sheer power behind her wings creates a violent gust capable of knocking nearby aircraft off course and sending them spiraling away.

Insectivore - Consuming nearby brutes restores a portion of her HP. 

Enhanced Echo - Her advanced echolocation reveals the location of all humans and vehicles in her vicinity.

Iron Wing - Her massive wings serve as a living shield, protecting her from incoming attacks.

When designing the Bull Shark, we wanted to embrace the traits that have made these creatures one of nature’s most resilient and fearsome predators. We knew the battlefield needed a true tank, so what better choice than to take the ocean's living tank... and give it legs?

At first, the concept got a few laughs around the studio. A giant quadrupedal shark? It seemed like a silly idea. But the moment the first concept art came together, everyone saw the vision.

When it came time to translate the Bull Shark's natural abilities into gameplay, there were two defining traits we wanted to hone in on - its devastating bite and its incredible sixth sense, electroreception. However in our version it doesn't just defeat its prey, it toys with it. If you're human, you can certainly try to fight back, but you might find yourself clamped in its jaws, launched into the air, and only then finished off. But we didn't stop there. Real sharks use electroreception to detect the tiny electrical signals produced by other living creatures, and we wanted to push that idea even further. What if the Bull Shark could do more than sense electricity? What if it could harness it? What if it could channel devastating lightning strikes, turning an already fearsome predator into a true force of nature?

What started as a wild idea quickly became one of the team's favorite designs, and if you like mercilessly dominating the battlefield and leaving no trace of your enemies behind, then you’ll enjoy playing as the Bull Shark. Come see the chaos and destruction for yourself when Early Access drops on August 18th!

Electric Strike - You could say that Dr. Kane’s serum really struck a nerve in the Bull Shark’s molecular DNA, resulting in a shocking new mutation that allows it to charge up an AOE lightning attack to call down a devastating bolt from the sky, dealing damage to enemy Beasts caught in his path.

Death Leap - The Bull Shark’s stout body is not just for show. He can launch himself high into the air before coming crashing down straight with a big chomp on the enemy Beast’s head.

Volt Vortex - Drawing from this new found spark, the Bull Shark can also draw in more electricity by opening his gills. This covers him in a temporary electric field, shocking attacking opponents.

Jolt Javelin - If you notice the Bull Shark taking a bow, I would get out of the way because it’s not out of surrender. All that charged up energy has to go somewhere, and in this case, a simple bow is all it takes to unleash this power through his dorsal fin.

Head Smack - Ultimately the Bull Shark gets the last laugh for his “big head” as he can swing it back and forth to smack enemy Beasts.

Slash - Taking advantage of his arm-like flippers to disorient enemy beasts with a good ole one, two, punch.

Heavy Tailspin - If his shiny teeth fail him, then the Bull Shark can rely on his stout body and heavy tail to send enemies flying with a powerful smack of his tail.

Heavy Bite - Leaps forwards to bite the enemy beast and spits out its flesh afterwards.