Two new Battleborn heroes have been revealed

Battleborn

The two new Battleborn heroes revealed today on IGN are about as different from one another as they could possibly be. The shotgun-toting bruiser named Trevor Ghalt is a respected and well-liked military veteran who was among the first to recognize the grave threat facing the universe, while the stealthy assassin Deande served as the Spymaster for the Jennerit Empire for more than 1000 years before it fell under the control of the villainous usurper Lothar Rendain. But both are equally central to the game's story.

Ghalt is actually the founder of the Battleborn, assembling the team from both friends and foes to fight the mysterious evil that's snuffing out all light in the universe. He's a “hook and trap specialist” who focuses on controlling enemy movements on the battlefield, backed by a hard-hitting “revolver shotgun” that he can dual-wield as his Ultimate.

Deande, on the other hand, is all about subtlety and striking from the shadows. She can deploy a realistic clone and then slip into a stealth mode that allows her to move undetected and unleash a “big burst-damage attack” that will knock back and weaken enemies. Her ultimate allows her to do ten strikes at once, hitting every enemy caught in her targeting cone when triggered.

Battleborn will launch with seven playable characters, and Creative Director Randy Varnell said the remainder (there will be 25 in all) will be unlocked “pretty quickly” as you play through the game. But these two will take a little longer to get to than the rest. “Ghalt and Deande, because they are central to the story mission, will unlock later on in the progression,” he said. “We want you to encounter them first interacting with you about the story, then later you get to unlock them and make them your own. These are characters that are extremely central to the plot of the game."

We got some hands-on time with Battleborn back in October, which you can read about here. It's currently scheduled to come out on May 3, 2016.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.