Perfect Dark (The Initiative)

[Julius]

Announced at The Game Awards! Being developed by The Initiative, as was heavily rumoured. 

Thought that trailer was really well done.

Edited December 11, 2020 by Julius

[Dcubed]

Not terribly happy to see the return of Red Head Joanna, but I’m glad to finally see it announced!

Cautiously optimistic about this one  

[S.C.G]

A brand new Perfect Dark title, released over twenty years after the original, and more than fifteen years after the prequel, in the hands of a new developer?

We'll see what they do with it, the trailer already gives an idea of the direction that they're taking, and there's definitely potential here.

The logo is somewhere inbetween the original and the prequel, I almost want it to change completely back to the original logo before it releases but, it's a compromise, and they have kept it recognisable at least, which is good, as it's a great logo.

Everything else is potential, until we see some gameplay, which I reckon won't be for a while.

I'm still not buying an Xbox Series X console... yet.

If any game has the potential to sell me on the idea though, then it's this, and it is good to see someone finally doing something with the license again.

Afterall, this is too perfect a chance to waste, just don't keep fans of the original games in the dark for too much longer.

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

I watched the trailer knowing it was for Perfect Dark, and still got a few goosebumps when the dataDyne logo appeared on top of the building.

Trailer told us absolutely nothing, but it's great to see this announced, hopefully the "best in the business" channel the original more than Zero... hopefully something more concrete about it soon!

[Hero-of-Time]

Happy to see this finally announced but I'm not too excited by it, mainly due to the rumours going around that the game may be being developed with seasons/episodes in mind. We'll see how things look closer to release.

[Cube]

We already knew (unofficially) that this new developer was making Perfect Dark (it's been known for months). So the only thing this reveals is that they're using the style of Perfect Dark Zero. 

 

With zero gameplay footage or even information, they could have waited until they had more.

[LazyBoy]

God I loved the original. I think more than any other of Rare's games encapsulated their big balls approach to making the biggest, best and most innovative games they could. Just bursting with ideas. God I miss them, and how badly they could be used on this. I hope its good, don't get me wrong, but FPSs are pretty much unchanged since the first Modern Warfare, with the exception of the BR format being adopted (which we may be seeing here as well - ecological collapse i.e. storms?). Too much to ask for probably that this is the shake up the genre needs. 

[drahkon]

Never played a Perfect Dark game, so for me this is an "oh...ok"-announcement.

I hope it'll deliver so fans will be pleased

[Hero-of-Time]

7 minutes ago, LazyBoy said:

God I loved the original. I think more than any other of Rare's games encapsulated their big balls approach to making the biggest, best and most innovative games they could. Just bursting with ideas. God I miss them, and how badly they could be used on this. I hope its good, don't get me wrong, but FPSs are pretty much unchanged since the first Modern Warfare, with the exception of the BR format being adopted (which we may be seeing here as well - ecological collapse i.e. storms?). Too much to ask for probably that this is the shake up the genre needs. 

I think Titanfall done a good job of mixing things up a little bit. Other FPS games since the release of the first TF game have borrowed elements from it.

[drahkon]

2 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I think Titanfall done a good job of mixing things up a little bit.

100% agreed.

I will fight anyone who says that Titanfall 2 isn't the greatest FPS ever made.

[Zell]

The original Perfect Dark was ahead of its time.

I'll be honest it's hard to imagine a new game capturing the same feel as the original since FPSs have moved on so much since. All I really want from a new FPS is something that gives it a unique identity, thinking about games like Titanfall 2 (and Apex), Doom, Halo etc, as opposed to another COD knock-off. 

[Cube]

I kind of feel like doing a game closer to the original would be a unique identity right now. Obviously on a different kind of scale.

 

Individual levels, but a bit more open (like GoldenEye/Perfect Dark). Can always have some linear set-pieces inside or between the main levels. Objectives that you need to figure out how to complete (they could do something similar to Assassin's Creed Odyssey and include a difficulty option where you can use hints to work out where stuff is or just have it point to the objective). 

Optional objectives could be a thing as well - perhaps they could had an affect on the story. 

 

DOOM managed to feel like a modern shooter while also capturing the feeling of original Doom-era games. Something similar could be done with Perfect Dark: taking modern features and blending them with the feeling of the original. 

 

I want it to be a sequel, though. I need some Maian and Skedar weapons.

[LazyBoy]

Yeah Titanfall 2 was probably the best of recent attempts, though if I'm being a cynic I would say there was only really that 1 level with the time hops where I was like "ok, this is new". 

@Cube for me you've nailed it, it was the level design from Perfect Dark that I would like them to focus in on. Is it just me or do you not get good levels any more? Obviously in PD they would group 2-3 of them together within the same theme/area (the datadyne building, area 51), but even within that each area & level felt unique. They each carried their own challenges (compare the tense stealth of Chicago to the battle like Alien ship). There was great variety in design - that airplane crash one in the snow v that one in the house on the lake (it was a long time ago). They were long as well. Memberberries.

[drahkon]

17 minutes ago, LazyBoy said:

Is it just me or do you not get good levels any more?

Gotta say, the most recent iteration of Modern Warfare did quite a good job with that.

Yes, it's CoD but I thought the stealth/night/dark-ops missions were awesome and very well done. Nothing new, but executed really well.

[EEVILMURRAY]

On 11/12/2020 at 1:04 AM, Dcubed said:

Not terribly happy to see the return of Red Head Joanna, but I’m glad to finally see it announced!

She's always been a redhead to me, albeit more subtle

It was just her hairstyle that annoyed me in Zero

[Hero-of-Time]

17 minutes ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

She's always been a redhead to me, albeit more subtle

It was just her hairstyle that annoyed me in Zero

Yup. Her design in Zero was absolutely awful.  

[WackerJr]

After Zero and then seeing that Rare again weren’t the developers I held back on my enthusiasm for this one.

Reading up about the team developing it does make me a little more confident about how it might turn out.

I don’t like the sound of the ‘seasons’ rumour, and as always it would be nice to see some actual gameplay.

[Dcubed]

So... they've turned Perfect Dark into Mirror's Edge?

Well it can't be any worse than PD Zero I suppose!

Edit: Deets!

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2024/06/09/perfect-dark-details-interview-xbox-games-showcase-2024/

Quote

Perfect Dark is a first-person secret agent thriller in a near-future world. With the blessing of the original Perfect Dark studio, Rare (not to mention some of the leads from the original titles), Team Perfect Dark has pulled inspiration from elements of the first two games, but crafted an entirely new story and universe around them for this reboot.

At the widest level, Perfect Dark will be a single-player experience, with a set of missions – but with choices offered in how you complete those missions. Looking at the trailer, it’s clear that traversal and gadgets are a huge part of this – we see new parkour abilities used throughout, both for movement and combat. The developers tell me that the focus was on creating an intuitive movement system, which will let players find interesting ways to tackle their objectives. Add to that a combat system that allows for both melee and gunplay, stealth mechanics, and liberal use of gadgets, and Perfect Dark is a game that will present players with an objective, but let them figure out how they want to achieve it.

...

Gadgets are a pillar of the secret agent genre. In the trailer, we get a tease of Joanna using a gadget to analyse NPC voices and create vocal “deepfakes” to trick security systems or impersonate other characters, as well as create distractions.

Gadgets can be used for misdirection and manipulation, but we also see that Joanna can use a tool to scan an NPC and learn details about them – it wouldn’t be a secret agent story without some fieldwork, and the developers tell me that parsing the world, around you will be a key part of understanding how to tackle your objectives...

...

With this first look at combat, it’s clear this is another aspect of player choice. In the trailer we see lethal and non-lethal weaponry, close-quarters combat, abilities that allow you to take down multiple enemies at once, and more. We can also go loud or go quiet, offering a risk-reward for both methods. Team Perfect Dark wants to create a “symphony” of mechanics, merging traversal, close-quarters-combat, gunplay, unlockable abilities, environmental elements, and gadgets into a unified experience for players.

So it's essentially a Thief-esc immersive sim with Mirror's Edge style parkour mechanics.  Well it ain't Perfect Dark, but it looks promising regardless.

Edited June 9 by Dcubed

[Cube]

Yeah, it doesn't look like Perfect Dark, but at the very least it looks interesting.

[Ashley]

In the future presumably deepfakes are more prevalent so why would a security door rely on just voice? 

But anyway, guess we'll see what it's like. The royal "we" anyway as I've never owned an Xbox

[Happenstance]

Not a series I have a particular fondness for but it's interesting to watch the development of this and see how it turns out. It's been giving big Duke Nukem Forever vibes so at least what they showed this weekend looks better than that!