Crushing monsters is a rhythm game in this co-op RPG for MMO outcasts

Fellowship is what happens when you rip World of Warcraft dungeons out of the MMO structure and put them into their own game. It’s a co-op dungeon-crawler that recreates the experience of running MMO dungeons with MOBA-like heroes.

PC players will be able to play its open beta on Steam on Feb. 24, and they’ll get to try out its newest damage-dealing hero Tariq. Developer Chief Rebel gave Polygon an exclusive first-look at the hammer-wielding brute during a hands-on preview session last week.

Tariq isn’t quite like the melee characters you’d find in WoW or even Final Fantasy 14; his entire kit revolves around a timer that works almost like a rhythm game. When you engage enemies, a curved bar appears next to him that tracks the timing of his next hammer swing. Every time the moving bar hits the highlighted section is an opportunity to land his Heavy Strike, a powerful blow that punctuates his cycle of attacks. Miss the timing and lose out on loads of damage.

Other abilities are made to slot in between each of Tariq’s swings, and you’ll need to weave them in while also dodging hazards the dungeons throw at you. Each hit builds a rage meter which you can spend on his most powerful abilities, but you have to be careful to not break the pattern.

“We often like to describe Tariq’s rotation as pretty rhythmic; it’s quite musical,” community director Hamish Bode says in a video (above) going over the hero’s kit. “So if you’re weaving in three of your Wild Swings and then doing a Heavy Strike you’re going to kind of have like that four beats in a bar type feel.”

A proficient Tariq player will be able to land every swing and maintain a buff that infuses his hammer with lightning. And as you unlock more abilities, you can even moonlight as a bit of a tank for your party. Bode said that in playtests the team noticed “players can get a little tunnel-visioned, which reinforces that berserker fantasy in a weird way.”

Tariq, along with Fellowship’s other five heroes, will be playable in the open beta. While you can practice his abilities in the game’s hub area, you’ll want to join up with tanks and healers and see how you fare against a dungeon boss. And once you get some gear, you can start to ramp the difficulty up and see what WoW players have been obsessed with for decades.