The Chosen: Well of Souls – In Stores Now; New Character Stats

The new action RPG from Meridian4 and Rebelmind, The Chosen: Well of Souls, is now in stores and available for the PC. In this dungeon crawler, you choose your hero and journey forth in a quest that pits you against an army of demons and devils hellbent and determined to take over the world.

“The Chosen: Well of Souls is a value-packed game that should appeal to action-RPG fans everywhere,” said Steve Milburn, Director at Meridian4. “Rebelmind has delivered an addictive experience that will have you using swords, axes, pistols and even machine guns to take out the onrushing hordes of werewolves, vampires and demons well into the night.”

Game Features:

• 3 original playable characters, each with their own distinct skills and abilities
• Over 200 different types of armour, weapons and magic items
• Over 12 blood-curdling quests with hordes of werewolves, zombies, vampires and demons
• Modify skills and allocate experience to develop your hero
• Seizing demons during battle allows you to use them to fight for you
• Improve weapons strength and effectiveness through ancient magic
• Call upon mystical creatures to help battle the forces of evil

Originally titled Frater, after one of the main characters in the game, The Chosen: Well of Souls has three different heroes to choose from, and each have their over special moves, abilities, and stats. We have posted the history, and special character techniques for Elena, Frater, and Khan after the break along with some new screenshots.

Character Profile – Elena

The Story: Elena’s story begins in a remote village deep in the wild reaches of the Siberian wilderness. The close-knit community consisted of nearly one thousand inhabitants, and treated each other like an over-large extended family, certainly the result of their extreme isolation and the common goal of survival. Elena’s own family included three older brothers along with herself and her parents, but her constant companion was her cousin Yuri.

In the summer Elena and Yuri’s days were spent swimming in the frigid waters of the river and when the winter months were upon them, they would sled down the snowy slopes of the valley. They would often accompany her father and brothers on hunting trips in the surrounding hills in the fall.

Life was good…Then came the Night of the Blood Moon.

The howling was the first sign that something was amiss. Some villagers were awakened by the blood-curdling sound. Had they looked north they would have witnessed a chilling sight, but it would not have saved them. Werewolves!

By the light of the moon a slavering host of the beasts emerged from the woods that bordered the town. Howling their bloodlust, the monsters swarmed through the settlement, slaying indiscriminately… eating.

The morning light dawned on a scene of horror. Broken bodies were strewn in the streets, many were… incomplete. There were only two survivors; Elena and Yuri, but her cousin had been seriously injured. Elena spent the next few weeks caring for her cousin. He gained strength quickly, but he seemed changed in her eyes.

She soon realized why. He had contracted lycanthropy… the wolf disease. With tears in her eyes, Elena was forced to kill her own cousin in his sleep on the eve of the next full moon. She was eleven.

That night, Elena took a new name, Wolfbane, and swore to exact revenge on the beasts that had destroyed her village and killed her family. A group of hunters found her in the ruins of the village and took her in. Her ability with firearms and bows soon impressed them as did her determination. She soon became a full member of the Hunters’ league as they ranged across the Taiga, stalking and killing werewolves and other horrors.

Rumors of werewolf activity to the south eventually led the young woman on a far-reaching quest to finally put an end to the plague of lycanthropy, only to find there was a much greater evil to fight.

Starting Stats
Strength 20
Dexterity 35
Knowledge 15
Vitality 20
Life 60
Mana 30
Faith 25

Sample Skills

• Piercing Blow

Elena’s years of experience hunting with bows allows her to harness their power more efficiently. This combined with her knowledge of anatomy makes it possible for her to shoot arrows or bolts through targets and strike other enemies.

• Dodge

Years of hunting werewolves have honed Elena’s reflexes and reactions to a razor-sharp edge. This preternatural ability allows Elena to dodge attacks from enemies.

• Shadow

Elena’s knowledge of the wilderness allows her to blend into her environment, a useful skill when sneaking up on prey that has exceptional senses such as a werewolf. The shadow ability allows her to approach enemies much more closely before they detect her.

• Eye of Mist

Elena learned many things while a member of the Hunters’ League; the habits, the weaknesses, and the strengths of her prey. She also learned how to counteract some of their advantages. The Eye of Mist allows her to lower an enemies’ resistance to Ether Magic.

Character Profile – Frater

The Story: Frater’s formative years were spent in a monastery. As an infant, he was found by a wandering friar and left with a nearby order of monks to be raised. Nothing is known of his parentage, only that he was found in the woods, nearly dead from exposure and hunger.

It was to be a strange upbringing for the young boy and perhaps an even stranger experience for the monks, who found their vows of silence often interrupted by peals of the child’s infectious laughter at the most inopportune times. Yet to this day, the Abbott maintains that Frater taught them more as a child than he ever learned from them.

That overstatement aside, the monks taught him the ways of their order and the principles of faith and quickly realized the extraordinary potential of their young charge both intellectually and spiritually. It was decided that the young man should be sent to study with the great alchemist, Peter of Sanok.

Up until this time, the young man had been known simply as the Boy, or Brother. The night before his departure that changed. The Abbott asked him into the rectory and bade him choose his own name. Without family history to call upon or any other suitable role models, he chose to honor the very men that reared him, and took the name Frater, Latin for brother.

Frater left the monastery and spent several years studying the mysteries of magic and alchemy under the tutelage of Peter of Sanok. Finally the great alchemist realized there was no more he could teach his protégé and bade Frater continue his search for knowledge. Frater left Peter of Sanok, and wandered, giving aid to the needy, and learning of the mysteries of the wide world, and earning the moniker, the Nameless Brother.

The rumors of evil forces afoot lead him back to the monastery of his childhood where he was welcomed with open arms. But his homecoming proved to be short-lived. His faith and knowledge were needed in the upcoming battle. His abilities would be tested to the utmost and the fate of the world would fall squarely on his shoulders.

Frater understood that he was meant to fight this battle. Perhaps this was the reason he survived as a babe in the woods. His faith and knowledge were needed and he would not fail.

Starting Stats
Strength 15
Dexterity 20
Knowledge 35
Vitality 20
Life 55
Mana 105
Faith 25

Sample Skills: Many of Frater’s skills reflect the faith and knowledge he acquired during his upbringing in the monastery and over years of training.

• Concentration of Energy

Years of study under Peter of Sanok have given Frater an unsurpassed ability in gathering the ether to power certain magical spells. Missile spells will inflict more damage on Frater’s enemies.

• Retribution

Frater’s upbringing at the hands of the monks has given him an unflagging faith which he uses to great effect against demonic forces. This devotion is so powerful that there is a chance an enemy will be immobilized when attacked.

• Convert

Frater’s strength of will is so powerful and pure that it can overcome even the most evil of beasts. When concentrated in the form of a single attack it may actually fog a demon’s mind enough to cause it to fight its own kind for a short while.

• Magic Skin

Frater’s knowledge of magic does not grant him immunity from magical attacks. However, his understanding of the arcane, combined with his exposure to the ether during his studies, has made it so that magical attacks against him inflict less damage.

Character Profile – Khan

The Story: Khan was born into a large peasant family far to the east, high in the Tien Szan mountains. Early on, perhaps due to the family’s struggle to survive or their reliance on each other, a deep sense of responsibility was instilled into the young man. His parents would often comment that he seemed to know from a very young age what his role would be in this world. That was the reason they named him Khan.

Khan began training in the martial arts at a very early age, first under the tutelage of his father and older siblings, and then at the hands of local sensei. He soon mastered what there was to learn, and as he grew into adolescence he began to make pilgrimages throughout the Celestial Mountains. It was said the he would listen to the wind… that he could hear the cries of the oppressed upon it.

Whatever the case, villages and farms throughout the range had found a hero in the young warrior. No sooner would the rumor of a despotic Warlord reach his ears, than Khan would appear to put an end to his rule.

On one fateful day he arrived at a ravaged farm ready to defend its owners only to find that no human hand was at fault. Creatures out of a nightmare came boiling out of the trees: Qi-Mei, the mountain demons. Khan was left for dead. The farmer found the young man but could do little for him. Finally, the farmer’s wife convinced her husband to take the warrior to the Old Man of the Mountain.

It took months for the mysterious elder to nurse Khan back to health, but that was not to be the end of their relationship. Two days before Khan was set to leave he came upon the old man meditating in a clearing… as did three Qi-Mei. Before Khan could pull his sword from its scabbard, the old man had destroyed the ravenous demons. Khan stayed with the old man for three more years, learning the ways of weapons and magic and demon-slaying… and in that time not a word was spoken between the two.

Khan continued roaming the Tien Shan range, still defending the oppressed, but his true goal was to put an end to the Qi-Mei. His success made him the bane of demons in the Celestial Mountains, to the point where the Qi-Mei would run from his fearsome visage. To the people of the mountains he became known as the Blade of Spring.

Rumors of demonic uprisings in the West have brought him to the Sudetes. He has made it his life’s goal to defend the deserving wherever they may be.

Starting Stats
Strength 35
Dexterity 20
Knowledge 10
Vitality 25
Life 90
Mana 20
Faith 25

Sample Skills

• Whirling Death

Khan’s training at the hands of many masters has made him a master in his own right. He is proficient with all weapons. When surrounded he has the ability to strike at all enemies in a whirling circle of death.

• Stun

Khan has fought against multiple enemies on so many occasions that it has become his specialty. When pressed by a group of foes, he can evade them by stunning the group with a spectacular display of agility.

• Killing Blow

Learned at the feet of the Old Man of the Mountains, Khan can sense when an enemy, a demon in particular, is near death. One well-placed blow is all that is needed.

• Spirit of Cheetah

Years of meditation have allowed Khan to harness the full potential of his body. By calling on the Spirit of Cheetah, Khan can speed up his movement to a blur.

TONS of new screenshots can be found here.