Xbox finally pulled the covers off its Perfect Dark reboot at its Summer Game Fest showcase earlier this morning and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t look good as hell.
What was originally thought to be a straight reboot of the beloved Rare shooter has become what appears to be a bit of an immersive sim. Or, at the very least, a more immersive spy thriller.
The trailer begins with Agent Joanna Dark using the cover of the sandstorm to skydive into a Saudi Arabian desert city. She’s on the hunt for Carrington, who returning players will remember founded the Carrington Institute. Here, Carrington appears to be some kind of hacker terrorist and Jo is hot on his trail. She stalks him through the city, using a number of cool spy gadgets (all made by original series villains DataDyne) to close in on his last known location.
There’s a little bit of everything here — Dishonored-style multipath-level design, gadgets that open up different opportunities, some stealth, some action, a bit of climbing, a bit of hacking. It looks cool as hell, and that’s in defiance of what has reportedly been a pretty rough period of development for Perfect Dark. Crystal Dynamics was brought in to help get the game back on track after multiple reported departures at primary studio The Initiative, and it appears to have succeeded.
Of course, as we’ve learned from many E3’s past, trailers that debut during Summer Game Fest are often more proof-of-concept than they are a look at what the real game will look and play like on delivery. But based on this demonstration, if CD and The Initiative can pull something together that looks remotely like this, I think returning players will be well served indeed.
A final note: some of you, like me, might be tilting their heads at the story and wondering “Wait, didn’t we already have a prequel game before? I definitely played Perfect Dark Zero.” Reader, you did. There was indeed a previous prequel title, made by Rare as a launch title for the Xbox 360, and it wasn’t terribly good. This new game is a start-fresh reboot that intends to reimagine the character and story for the 2020s.
Perfect Dark does not yet have a release date. It’s coming to Xbox Series X|S and PC. It’ll also be on Game Pass.
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