Don’t expect Visceral’s untitled game to be “Star Wars Uncharted”
Details on Visceral Games’ upcoming and untitled Star Wars project are scarce.
However, the title’s creative director and writer, Amy Hennig recently chatted with Glixel about the game and offered a few hints.
First, the game won’t be a direct copy of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series. Hennig helmed the entire first three games for that series before leaving the studio in 2014 in the midst of the fourth game. Per Glixel’s article:
While the new Star Wars game will be spiritually similar to Uncharted, Hennig insists it won’t be “Star Wars Uncharted.” It’s an important distinction to make. For example: you’ll never see an Uncharted game cutting away to the point of view of the villain. It may be third person, but we’re always following the hero, as in the Indiana Jones films. Star Wars, however, is different. It’s more of an ensemble adventure with multiple character arcs, which enables everyone to do things in parallel – witness the Death Star escape in A New Hope.
This is similar to what Hennig has referenced before; she has previously emphasized the ensemble cast idea for Visceral’s game on multiple occasions.
Amy Hennig and Doug Chiang.
Hennig also mentioned that she nearly rejected EA’s pitch for the game, which Visceral’s general manager Steve Papoutsis called a “scrappy” third person action adventure.
“Imagine how heartbreaking it would be to work on something I love so much only to be crushed under the combined wheels of EA, Lucasfilm and Disney,” she said.
However, being able to work in close proximity to Lucasfilm, the company’s story group head, Kiri Hart and Lucasfilm’s executive creative director, Doug Chiang changed her mind. Visits to Lucasfilm offices at Skywalker Ranch have been particularly exciting.
“There’s this giant warehouse full of Home Depot shelves stacked with precious things from your childhood,” Hennig said. “Luke’s Stormtrooper costume, the original Yoda, just kind of saggy and slumped over on this dusty shelf…it’s almost silly, seeing all this precious stuff just sitting there so unceremoniously.”
The article also notes that Hennig’s “ensemble recording sessions [for the game] are almost like theater” with all the actors present on set. This is in contrast to how other games do motion capture; normally actor are recorded individually.
I definitely recommend reading the entirety of the article; it provides some keen insight into how Hennig works. It may also give a better sense of what to expect for the upcoming title.
Visceral’s game is due out sometime in 2018, as mentioned by EA in June. Besides the details hinted at today, EA has called the title “a new action adventure game” with “an original, authentic narrative in the Star Wars universe.”
(H/T Twinfinite)
