Welcome to the designer blog for Radiant Black! Be warned that this article has spoilers for the Radiant Black comics, which I highly recommend you read, if you haven’t already! — Brian McKay

Despite Radiant Black’s abilities having fairly simple text boxes, he has some tough decisions to be made in regards to his playstyle. A lot of it comes down to his weapon, God Mode.

Nathan Burnett, the man inside the Radiant Black suit, is a pretty honorable fellow, and would rather take down his foes without killing them. By playing this ability early, you set up a powerful boost to the rest of your attacks so you can win a fair fight! This is particularly effective against characters (and players!) that want to play Rest early, as you’re incentivized to want to play Weapon earlier than normal anyway.

It’s tempting to just always have God Mode active as much as possible, but you need to carefully evaluate when the damage boost is actually helping you win the game, and when you should be playing in a more traditional style and trying to snag those executes. Not having the threat of the execute looming is a tremendous drawback! Speaking of executes, Radiant Black has a tremendous trick up his sleeve:

I wanted to capture one of the coolest moments in the Radiant Black comics. In one of the early issues of the comic, Nathan Burnett, the man inside the suit, dies. I warned you about spoilers! His best friend, Marshall Ward, takes up the mantle of Radiant Black and then goes on a quest into the afterlife to resurrect his friend. After he does, they both share the Radiant Black power, and it gets even crazier from there.

Welcome to Existence recreates the death and resurrection of Radiant Black. You can survive an Execute, which is something no other character can do! It comes with a steep downside, but any downside is better than just losing the game on the spot. You only get a short amount of time to redeem yourself before all is lost. With some careful play, you can stretch out your remaining lifespan by readying abilities, allowing for some spectacular comebacks!  — Brian McKay