Insomniac Games, well-known for developing Spyro the Dragon and Ratchet and Clank, announced recently that they would be developing Sunset Overdrive, an open-world, off the wall shooter for the Xbox One. An interview by Xbox with some of the developers reveals some of the things the Insomniac intend to do differently this time around.
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Sunset Overdrive’s ‘Game Director’ explains that the increased power of the Xbox One made a lot of things possible that previously were not, one example being more enemies on screen at any one time.
“We wanted a really high enemy count, our minimum we wanted to be able to load 120 enemies at a time…Frankly I thought we set technical limitations that we weren’t going to be able to meet, like we’ll say 120 [enemies on screen] and 90 will be OK, but we actually hit all those things very well.” – Drew Murray
Sunset Overdrive will feature a vast array of weaponry.
Naturally more objects on-screen at one time is something that will be easier with the increased power next-gen provides, but Insomniac emphasize the speed at which they wanted players to traverse the world, which necessitates a certain amount of power from the hardware.
Lots of smaller touches will also be possible; things like clothing and accessories moving realistically in wind. Insomniac feels that these smaller touches will lead to a greater sense of immersion for the player, something that was “not possible in previous generations”. While small details such as these rarely make or break games in themselves, adding subtle touches to games is also appreciated.
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Not only will Sunset Overdrive feature more detail, there will be more variation too. Lead Gameplay Programmer Dough Shehan explains that Sunset Overdrive will incorporate features such as enemies having different animations for their basic moves, helping to create a natural feel.
“Our enemies have personalities, so you’ll see a bunch of OD [Overcharge Drinkers] coming at you, and they’ll all have different movesets for a lot of their basic moves and stuff.” – Doug Shehan
The theme of improved variation continues with the dialogue system. This means that each time you play through the game, you should hear different lines even when completing the same action. Head writer Jon Paquette emphasizes how it’s “gratifying to know people aren’t going to get bored, hearing the same things over and over again.” It’s nice to see that the attention to detail going into Sunset Overdrive isn’t purely confined to the combat, and applies to other aspects such as narrative and atmosphere.
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The interview with those working at Insomniac gives an insight into what exactly they’re trying to accomplish. Sunset Overdrive looks crazy, over-the-top, jam-packed with weapon types and mutants to use them on. It seems to channel the carefree, weapon-oriented zaniness of games like Borderlands, only with a more open, three dimensional world that’s easier to traverse. What’s definite is that, if Sunset Overdrive is as fun as it looks, it will be a huge asset to the Xbox One.