Entropy dev explains how permadeath works in a party RPG

Entropy is a turn-based RPG now available in early access that blends the party dynamics of Final Fantasy 10 and Lost Odyssey with permadeath stakes. Lead developer James Wragg cites Fallout 1 and Games Workshop's tabletop game Mordheim as major influences on the design.

Wragg explained the reasoning behind Entropy's randomly generated mercenary system and permadeath mechanics. "A big inspiration for the randomly generated mercenary system was: I wanted to include permadeath," he said. "That's what I often miss in JRPGs. I love playing the old Final Fantasy games. I do find once you play them as an adult who understands how they work, you're breezing through the game so easily. I wanted to really ramp up the challenge and the stakes."

The permadeath system draws heavily from Mordheim's approach to character attachment and loss. "One of the things that really raises the stakes in Mordheim is that you put all this character into these little guys. You make them, you give them names and you paint them and you lovingly create their profiles and loadouts and then they can just die from a mace in the face, and then they're just permanently dead," Wragg said.

To make permadeath work in a party RPG, Wragg designed a system with an infinite pool of recruitable mercenaries. "We needed a potentially infinite resource of party members so that we could then kill them, so that you could get attached to them, and then we could kill them," he explained. The actual death rate is relatively low, however. Characters who fall in combat typically suffer severed body parts or status injuries instead of permanent death, though the risk always remains.

Wragg confirmed that skilled players can complete Entropy without any casualties, but the ever-present threat of permadeath adds tension to every encounter. The game features both authored companion characters and procedurally generated mercenaries, with the developer emphasizing a strong commitment to side quests.

Entropy is available as a free demo on Steam, with the full early access version priced at $12.