The Gears of War 4 announcement wasn’t the only big news coming out of Microsoft’s E3 2015 press conference. The company also unveiled a brand new IPÂ from legendary creator Keiji Inafune (of Mega Man, Metroid 3, and Dead Rising fame)–a surprise which came completely out of left field. The game is called ReCore, and is described as a “classic action-adventure reimagined for a new generation.”
While we weren’t given much information on the title, aside from the fact that it stars a female protagonist and has really awesome looking robots, a new video interview with Armature Studio’s game director Mark Pacini and Inafune himself popped up on Xbox’s YouTube channel a few days ago, providing more details on the Xbox One Exclusive.
Before we dig into what they revealed, feast your eyes (again) on the title’s debut trailer below:
If you’re out of the loop, Pacini notes that the protagonist seen in the trailer is named Joule, and the robo-dog at her side is Mack–whom he explains is part of a faction trying to bring back humanity to the planet. There is an opposing faction who they’ll be facing off against, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
As for the desert-like setting shown off in the announcement video, Inafune elaborated, “One of the big features of this game is that the scenery completely changes after a sandstorm. This actually affects the maps in the gameplay.”
He continued, “In this world, there are very few humans and this girl is all by herself. As you can see, she has one companion robot.” In fact, it is Mack who originally found Joule at the beginning of the game, which Pacini points is the reason the two are so close.
The duo are not alone however, as Inafune explains that you will not only be meeting other companions but encountering enemies as well. Pacini adds, “The relationship between the friendly robots in the game and the enemy robots in the game, they get more volatile and deadlier as you go underground and find these areas. That’s where all the good stuff is, and that’s what you’re trying to explore.”
ReCore’s main theme will center around how Joule is going to survive in the world. It appears one of the ways she’s learned to adapt is by transferring Mack’s consciousness to other bots. On this interesting phenomenon, Inafune noted, “During the fight with the robots (as seen in the debut trailer) Mack was defeated, but his core remained. Mack’s consciousness still remains in the core and by implanting the core into another robot … Mack will live on in another form.” Pacini added, “There what Mack did was sacrifice himself for the player.”
The idea of transferring cores–or ReCoring, if you will–opens up interesting doors in terms of gameplay. Inafune reiterates, “As I said, robots play a very important role in this adventure.” He continued, “and there will be many more robots that will lead to a rich experience. There will also be many other companion robots you can partner with, and each of the different robots will lead to unique adventures.”
“We created this game envisioning a possible future for humanity.” Inafune explained. “I wanted to make a game that explores which direction future humanity is heading and how humanity will end.”
By the sound of their comments, ReCore is shaping up to be an intriguing addition to our ever growing library of post-apocalyptic games. Spring 2016 is suddenly feeling way too far away.
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Are you excited to see what Joule and Mack get up to in this title? Let us know in the comments below.
