Side 8

Side 8: The Eight Giants

Eight kingdoms. Twenty eggs. One king left standing in war mode.

A new world left to discover and conquer in Brand New Adventure mode.

Version 0.4.5 - Windows & Android  - Out now

By AizenGold

The game

Side 8: The Eight Giants is a side-view sandbox battle royale. Long ago eight giants fell, and their bodies became eight lands. In each, a kingdom built its capital inside its giant's bones: walls and gates, barracks, a castle, and beneath it the giant's skull, where a giant king holds court.

You are the champion of one of those kingdoms. Twenty eggs lie hidden across the world, each with a power of its own. Every kingdom wants them, and every kingdom wants the others gone. Dig anywhere, fight on every front, and make yours the last king standing.

The world of the eight kingdoms comes from Seven Nations, re-imagined around its giants: the Seven Nations of the novel, and the Ember Horde, the beast broods united under the Fire Giant.

Features

Eight kingdoms, each built in the bones of its fallen giant, with its own land, people, music, weather and way of fighting.

Living capitals. Capitals have walls, gates, barracks and a castle with the kingdom's egg altar. Under the castle is the giant's skull: the king's arena.

Doors and sieges. Every way in is a door. Your own people walk straight through; everyone else has to break it down. Gates, castle doors, barracks, the hatch to the Giant's Road and the hatch to the king's arena.

War on every front. Kingdoms send squads out at once: egg hunts, border wars, pushes through the Giant's Road and sieges. When their gates are struck, they come home to defend them. Fights near you are fought by real soldiers; the rest of the war is simulated, so the whole world stays at war without slowing the game.

Twenty eggs, twenty powers. Each egg on your kingdom's altar strengthens all your people and gives you its power for your skill bar. Crack their shells, fight off their broods, carry them home, steal them back.

Twenty egg blades. When an egg first reaches your altar, its blade wakes for you: one of twenty swords, each in its egg's colours, with its element, its own strike effects and half the egg's boon.

Giant kings and boons. Break into a capital, down through the arena hatch and into the skull. Slay a king and its capital, doors and eggs become your kingdom's. Then choose one of three boons from its giant.

Dig anywhere. Smart digging carves a passage you can walk or climb. The Giant's Road runs under all eight lands, and a vault of rooms, traps and a boss lies beneath every land.

Progression you earn in the war. Levels come from kills and deeds (breaking doors, cracking shells, laying eggs, slaying kings). Every level raises every stat, and your kingdom's own art twice. Giant Marks carry over between runs and unlock extra lives.

Lives and stakes. Three lives while your king lives; a conquest wins one back. Lose your king and the run is over.

Look and feel. Smooth anti-aliased pixel art, afterimage trails, dozens of new spell, sigil and portal effects, controller support, and graphics options up to 1080p.

The eight kingdoms

Kingdom

Land

Giant

How they fight

The Corsairs of Marisca

Tidegrave

Hrymir the Drowned (the Sea Giant)

Corsair Leap: dash, an extra jump, blunderbuss

The Azurian Merchant Princes

Sunscar

Sarhun the Buried (the Sand Giant)

Dune Runner: the fastest runners, luck for loot

The Katan Shogunate

Verdant Hollow

Ashura of the Oak (the Forest Giant)

Shinobi Dash: quick blades, a dash, criticals

The Indonian Crown

Prism Vale

Lunara the Shattered (the Crystal Giant)

Crystal Step: long rifle, air step, heavy armour

The Knights of Uldarich

Stonehold

Grond the Mountain (the Stone Giant)

Siege Miner: digs twice as fast, tough as stone

The Ember Horde

Muspel Forge

Surtr the Burning (the Fire Giant)

Forge Burrower: beasts that burn and burrow

The Sun Dragon Order

Stormspire

Raiju the Thunderer (the Storm Giant)

Cloud Walker: runs up walls, dodges

The Jarls of Vaelholm

Frostgard

Ymra the Rime (the Frost Giant)

Frost Glide: glides on its cloak, digs ice

How a run plays

Choose your kingdom. Its movement, strengths and starting boon are yours.

Start in your capital beside your castle. Your garrison guards the gates and the altar.

Hunt eggs in the caves, the Giant's Road and the sky islands. Crack the shells, beat the broods, carry the eggs home, lay them on your altar and take their powers and blades.

Join your kingdom's fronts, or go alone: break gates, raid altars, push through the Giant's Road.

Slay a giant king in its skull arena. Take its capital and choose a boon.

Defend your own walls and king. When yours is the last king standing, you win.

Controls

Action

Keyboard and mouse

Move / jump

A, D / Space or W (hold to jump higher)

Dash (if your kingdom has it)

Shift

Mine and break doors

Hold the left mouse button (Ctrl: the exact block)

Place a block

Right mouse button; mouse wheel picks the block

Power swing / fire

F

Abilities and egg powers

Keys 4-7

Use (altars, chests)

E

War ledger

Tab

World map

M

Menu

Esc

Controller

Fully supported: left stick to move, right stick to aim, triggers to mine and place

Screenshots

Eight giants fell: their bones lie across the land.

Tidegrave, home of the Corsairs of Marisca.

Prism Vale and the Indonian Crown's capital.

Muspel Forge, where the Ember Horde gathers.

Frostgard, the Jarls of Vaelholm's ice hall.

Every way into a capital is a door: break it down.

One of the twenty eggs, guarded by its brood.

War on every front: the kingdoms' squads clash.

The Giant's Road runs beneath all eight lands.

In the giant's skull, a king holds court.

Egg blades strike in their egg's colours.

The twenty egg blades, each in its egg's colours (art: Hedgy's Swordtember, CC-BY 4.0).

Trailer

Side8_The_Eight_Giants_trailer.mp4 is included with this release (1 minute 4 seconds, 1280x720 at 30 fps, H.264 video and AAC stereo sound, set to rock). It shows the giants' bones, the eight capitals, a gate being broken, an egg nest, the war on every front, the Giant's Road, a giant king falling and the egg blades, and ends on the logo: OUT NOW.

The trailer's last card.

What is new in 0.3.0

The remake: eight giant lands, capitals with doors, skull arenas and the Giant's Road.

A new war: kingdoms fight on many fronts at once, and off-screen battles are simulated.

Twenty eggs with powers, twenty egg blades, giant kings and boons, lives and Giant Marks.

Kingdom select, the war panel and ledger, the boon picker and a new run summary.

Levels now raise stats directly, and war deeds give experience.

Smart digging; faster running and higher jumps; trees grow only on flat ground; landmarks you can walk past and stand on.

New effects, a blue logo, and graphics options up to 1080p (effects quality, screen shake, hit-stop, trails, frame cap, FPS counter).

Performance: 60 fps in playtests (16.7 ms median frame), world built in under 5 seconds.

Adventure mode is locked for now: coming soon.

System requirements

Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.

A graphics card with OpenGL 3.3 (the game uses Godot's Compatibility renderer).

4 GB of memory, about 400 MB of disk space.

Keyboard and mouse, or a controller.

Credits

Design and story: Armand Brink, from the novel Seven Nations. Made with the Godot Engine (MIT licence).

Art and effects from free and licensed packs, among them Spell of Mastery by NancyGold (CC-BY 4.0), Flare (CC-BY-SA 3.0), LuizMelo's creature packs (CC0), Frostwindz's pixel VFX, CraftPix's free packs, the BitFX effect packs, Hedgy's Swordtember swords (CC-BY 4.0) and Ansimuz's Gothicvania sprites. Music: original, plus CC0 tracks from OpenGameArt. The full list is in CREDITS.md.