GraveRaiders - From Godot to Unreal

Today we're sharing some big news about the technical direction of GraveRaiders: we've made the decision to transition from Godot Engine to Unreal Engine 5.6+.

This wasn't a choice we made lightly, but as our vision for GraveRaiders solidified towards a 1-4 player co-op tactical shooter roguelite with AAA-adjacent visual fidelity, it became clear we needed an engine that could deliver on that ambition.

Why the Switch?

Godot served us well during early prototyping and remains an excellent engine, especially for 2D work. But GraveRaiders' evolving scope demanded capabilities that Unreal handles exceptionally well:

• Advanced rendering for our dark fantasy environments
• Sophisticated lighting to create the atmospheric tension we're chasing
• Robust multiplayer infrastructure with peer-to-peer networking, host authority, and client prediction
• Performance optimization tools to hit our FPS targets

The open map structure we're building also benefits enormously from Unreal's streaming and LOD systems.

Gameplay Ability System Integration

Our primary technical focus has been implementing Unreal's Gameplay Ability System (GAS) for our Specialty abilities. This system gives us the flexibility we need for:

• Two active abilities per Specialty (Signature + Tactical) with distinct cooldown timers
• Coop scaling that adjusts ability effects based on player count
• Attribute-driven damage and healing that integrates with our talent system
• Network replication that keeps abilities synchronized across all players

We've successfully integrated our first Specialty with both abilities fully functional

UI Foundations

Alongside ability work, we've built out foundational UI systems including real-time player statistics display. This supports our XP-based leveling system where players earn 20 levels per run, choosing from 100+ talents on each level up.

The talent selection overlay appears when you level up, giving you 10 seconds to pick from 3 options while combat continues around you—no pause menus breaking the flow.

What's Next

The engine transition has been a significant undertaking, but we're already seeing the benefits in visual quality and multiplayer stability. Upcoming priorities include:

• Completing the remaining three Specialties (Recon, Support, Engineer)
• Implementing the full talent pool with rarity tiers and smart selection
• Building out our first complete zone for internal playtesting

We'll have more to share on the progression systems in our next update.

Stay Connected!

Thanks for following our development journey! We're getting closer to launch, and we can't wait to share our game with you all. To stay up-to-date with the latest news, behind-the-scenes content, and potential beta test opportunities:

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Wishlist on Steam: Coming Soon!

Your support means everything to us, and we can't wait to see you in-game soon! Until next week!

- The Dev Team 🎮