Summary
I did n’t go into the 2024 Summer Game Fest weekend mean about thePerfect Darkreboot , but after the Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday , it might be the affair I ’m most excited about . Up until this point , Perfect Dark ’s return had n’t exactly looked promising , withreports of riotous developmentclouding several geezerhood of wireless muteness since its initial reveal . I ’m also not someone who tend to be particularly enticed by remakes and remasters , even if it had seemed likePerfect Darkwas cash in one’s chips along smoothly .
If thePerfect Darkreboot was being approached as a generally aboveboard update , there ’s no grounds why it would n’t be easy to get out off . LikeGoldenEye 007,the predate FPS fromPerfect Darkdeveloper Rare , the biz follows a design sensibility that still help set how shooters are made today . At the same time , I do n’t know how much a fast remaking ofPerfect Darkwould occupy me . The varied surroundings and moody lighting of the original stay visually engaging today , and there ’s no particular cause I would leap to a newer version over the Nintendo 64 release .
A fresh laggard unwrap what the long - wait Perfect Dark reboot look like , showing some imposingly realistic and engaging gameplay footage .
Custom image by Ben Brosofsky
The Perfect Dark Reboot Has Immersive Sim Elements
One Of My Favorite Genres Is Making A Surprise Comeback
As theXbox Games Showcase 2024revealed , however , the newPerfect Darkis anything but a basic remake . Agent Joanna Dark is still here , maintaining her shockingly orange hairsbreadth fromPerfect Dark Zero , but nearly everything surrounding her looks different . A setting called Garden City trades in dour corridor for a solarpunk aesthetic , and despite the franchise ’s iconic FPS condition , there is n’t that much emphasis on accelerator pedal . If someone described this to me without showing me the trailer , I might cerebrate it sounded like an awful way to rebootPerfect Dark , but interpret it in activity has had the diametrical effect .
WhatPerfect Darkactually looks like is an immersive sim , a genre defined by game likeDeus ExandSystem Shock . Immersive sims are all about choice , but not of necessity in the same way as RPGs . A good immersive sim offer meaningful interactions with its environment that let for originative gambling , making the world palpate alive with its responsiveness to the thespian . While getting past an foe in an average FPS might require shooting them , that ’s only one option on the table in an immersive sim , where stealth , parkour , manipulation , and strange environmental kill could all be on the board .
Arkane Austin’s Closure Killed My Immersive Sim Hopes
Microsoft Closing A Talented Studio Was A Huge Blow
I eff immersive sims , but I did n’t gestate to see a major Modern one anytime soon . Despite the hullabaloo that the earliest entries in the genre generated , they ’ve never really taken over the mainstream . The most prominent studio carrying the flannel mullein is Arkane , which has been solve in the genre for decades . The studio apartment ’s biggest hit , Dishonored , included its fair part of genre elements , and its 2017 secret plan , Prey , doubled down , offering a huge raiment of possible action and strong system to support them . Arkane ’s Austin studio usually worked in collaboration with the primary company in Lyon , but developedPreysolo .
The 2017 sci - fi immersive shooter Prey share a title with another sci - fi game , but Bethesda apparently forced Arkane Studios to reuse the name .
In May 2024 , however , Microsoft closed Arkane Austin , removing an incredibly gifted team from the equation(Arkane Lyon , gratefully , remains operable ) . Of all the late closings , this one dispatch me the hardest . Dishonoredis one of my pet games ever made , and despiteRedfallbeing a stumble , I was bright that Arkane Austin would be able to watch upPreywith another engross immersive sim . No one at the studio merit to lose their job in such a sudden and unceremonious elbow room , and Microsoft ’s stewardship of game ship’s company wo n’t be something I would be willing to commit anytime presently .
The other late Microsoft closures wereHi - Fi Rushdeveloper Tango Gameworks , Mighty Doomdeveloper Alpha Dog , and Roundhouse Studios , the successor to the studio apartment behind the original 2007Prey .
This also seemed like it might just be the end of immersive sim projects as ambitious asPrey , at least until the market comes back around to it at some full stop . Arkane Lyon is working onMarvel ’s Blade , which will credibly let in some trademark element , but it ’s improbable to be as ambitious or observational asPrey . Perfect Dark , consequently , came as a major dark sawbuck surprisal to me , specially coming from underneath the same thumb that just dealt a possible death blow to the genre .
Perfect Dark’s Gameplay Looks Genuinely Great
Dynamic Action & Interesting Possibilities Have Me Hyped
Perfect Darkhas only offer a look at one commission so far , butthe dynamic possibility are striking . Joanna sneaks into a complex by copying the voiceprint of a guard , a with child example of the ways in which immersive sims can sometimes make fighting unneeded . She parkours up to the second floor , utilizing motility that looks more cognate to the impulse - base freerunning ofMirror ’s Edgethan the stiffer systems ofAssassin ’s Creed . By this point in the trailer , I was already sold , with the focussing on fluid first - person stealth feeling more likeDishonoredthan anything has in a while .
Summer Game Fest has become the premier annual event for new games . Here are the biggest trailers , and new reveals from its 2024 opening night .
The missionary station break out into open combat minute later , and at this tip , Perfect Darkunveils a suite of beautifully synchronous hypothesis . Joanna does n’t just scud enemies . She kicks their stage out from under them , electrify them , and blasts through balcony railing . Bullets send yield wing , tear through obstacles , and break equipment for impromptu smoke bombs . I ’ve played throughDishonoredwith every prerogative , from never being spotted and leaving no corpses behind to killing everyone in sight , andPerfect Darklooks like it could pop the question a similarly extensive range of employ selection that involve replay .
The future of AAA immersive sims ca n’t realistically repose on one game , and even if there was more on the horizon , none of it would make the closure of Arkane Austin finger any more acceptable . Under the circumstances , however , Perfect Darkmight be the just the ticket to an experience I was n’t expecting to see again anytime presently . IfPerfect Darkcan go forth from its development woes to match the quality depict in the gameplay reveal , Xbox might just have the next great immersive sim on its hands , and I ’m certainly willing to fete that .
Source : Xbox / YouTube
