This year marks 10 years since Xbox launched their initiative (email protected) Still not sure if that’s why they invited the press to a digital event, but what we saw was a in-depth analysis of four new titles from four different European studios. Each game was presented with a trailer, a demo narrated by the developer and finally, the opportunity to ask relevant questions live. That’s what we saw.
The Last Case of Benedict Fox
The first title of the presentation also turned out to be the one that made the best impression. The Last Case of Benedict Fox is Polish developer Plot Twist’s debut game, although their 30-person team includes veterans of The Witcher, Dying Light and Hitman, so they’re not a rookie bunch.
I discovered the game during the Xbox showcase last summer, but haven’t followed it since. Maybe that’s why I was so pleasantly surprised. The Last Case of Benedict Fox is a Lovecraftian-inspired metroidvania with equal parts combat, platforming, and puzzle-solving. You play as self-proclaimed detective Benedict Fox, who investigates a case involving his late father. Benedict has skills that set him apart from most detectives in games, movies, and books. First of all, it’s bound to a demon similar to Darkness which, among other things, allows him to double jump and turn his skin to stone. Additionally, you can access people’s memories through a dimension called Limbo, which seems to make up the majority of the game. The rest takes place in his father’s castle, where Benedict can get tattoos to enhance the demon’s abilities and talk to various characters, among others.
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It was hard to get a feel for the expanse of the game world, but we saw a lot of ritual-type puzzles that required special ordering, as well as tricky interpretation of symbols, which should make more sense. In practice. . riddles Most metroidvanias tend to be movement-based, but judging by the demo, many of the puzzles are Resident Evil-inspired, with plenty of exotic items to use in the right places.
He fight looks surprisingly complex, with various abilities like the aforementioned stone skin, a parry system, and melee attacks that charge your firearm. We saw Benedict fighting demons and a mysterious organization that is chasing him because of the demon following him. I’m a little worried that the combat will be a little off at times, but it’s hard to tell without the controller in my hands.
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To the creative director Bartek Lesiakowski he was asked after the demo what he was most proud of, and unsurprisingly it was the visual style, but also the atmosphere, the story, and how Plot Twist deals with dark themes in a unique way. He also mentions as sources of inspiration, in addition to HP Lovecraft, film noir, jazz of the twenties and Greek tragedies. Certainly, the diversity of inspirations is palpable and from what we have seen, I can only salute the things that Bartek is most proud of. Benedict Fox’s latest case looks like a jazz monster from another dimension, lithe, edgy and immensely appealing, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it when it arrives this spring.
Lana’s Planet
Maybe Benedict Fox’s previous explosive presentation played a part, but Planet of Lana didn’t make as good an impression as I hoped. It was one of the four titles I was most looking forward to, but this stunningly beautiful and atmospheric cinematic platformer probably isn’t the best choice for a remote presentation. And since the game doesn’t have a lot of mechanics to speak of, and developer Wishfully and creative director Adam Stjärnljus are tight-lipped when it comes to story, there wasn’t much to say.
However, that doesn’t mean Planet of Lana looks any less amazing, considering everything that’s been shown of the game so far. It looks like a Playdead game, if Studio Ghibli handled the art direction and Fumito Ueda was on board as a consultant. The player takes the role of Lana, who embarks on an epic journey to save her sister and the rest of her people from the invading force threatening the planet Novo. Along the way, she encounters Mooi, a cat-like creature with a knack for jumping high and communicating with Novo’s wildlife, but who also has an acute fear of water, something Lana thankfully doesn’t share. In other words, the two abilities complement each other, and in the demo, which took place in an awesome swamp, we saw Lana command Mooi to solve navigation-based puzzles. None of them were particularly difficult, but hopefully that will change a bit later in the game. However, it was positive to see Mooi follow every command quickly and correctly, because there’s nothing quite as annoying as a companion character with poor AI.
Even though the puzzles were too obvious, as I said, the game’s visuals are impeccable, and the background music is incredibly beautiful, which isn’t surprising when you consider that it’s performed by the composer of The Last Guardian. . Although the format isn’t ideal for a game like Planet of Lana, it’s still one of the ones I’m looking forward to the most and luckily it’s coming soon. To watch this spring.
Light Year Frontier
An alien planet also serves as the setting for Frame Break’s Lightyear Frontier. A nice mech farm simulation game that also claims to offer a story with an engaging mystery.
Unlike the other games we’ve reviewed, it looks like the 14 people in Frame Break still have some way to go with this development, but the vision is already clear. It’s all about manual resource gathering rather than automation, and the ability to play both solo and with three friends. Additionally, the team is experimenting with the ability for the player to abandon their robot and explore on foot.
It all sounds incredibly colorful and engaging, as does the Outer Wilds-esque music, but Joakim Hedström, its CEO, hasn’t told us when we’ll be able to play it.
Eternal Space 2
From an alien planet in the original to a whole bunch of them. Everspace 2 ditched the roguelite structure of its predecessor in favor of a classic persistent progression campaign. Its predecessor’s structure was largely the result of a limited budget, but the success of this game allowed Rockfish Games to make “the game we’ve always wanted to make”, as founder Michael Schade puts it.
Everspace 2 looks like a twist on the dogfight genre. Schade describes it as a loot shooter in a semi-open world. You travel from place to place through portals and visit different solar systems. There are over 100 handcrafted locations, and Rockfish promises a 30-hour campaign and four hours of dialogue. The variety seems to be great; we have seen battles in space and near the surface on a lava planet, and below the surface of the ocean on a water planet. And what’s better, they were visually appealing, so it’s good that exploration plays a big role too.
The game is slated for a PC release in April, after a long period of early access. Schade has been raving about the feedback this previous version has provided, going so far as to say that he would never make a game again without first releasing it in Early Access.