Michel Ancel isn’t just any old highly respected French videogame designer in his early 40s that we might have a bit of a mancrush on. He, like Shigeru Miyamoto and Peter Molyneux, is also a Knight of the Order of Arts and Literature. But then again so are Kylie Minogue and Shakira, so we won’t take that honour too seriously. Still, after joining Ubisoft as an artist when he was 17, he went on to create and direct Rayman in his very early 20s, and therefore is responsible for the UK’s best-selling PlayStation game of all time.
While we’re still waiting for him to hurry the hell up and complete Beyond Good and Evil 2, what we’ve seen of Wild just makes us happy that he’s still making games – any games. It looks extraordinary and utterly unlike anything else revealed so far this year. It also looks like it could be about a group of humans surviving in a vast wilderness some time way back in prehistory when stories were told at camp fires and on cave walls, but apparently that’s not exactly the case. Few details were actually given concerning this PlayStation 4-exclusive at GamesCom, but thankfully Ancel has posted his own words on the PlayStation Blog and so we can at least get some overall, though vague, idea of what it’s about.
Taking place in an open-world environment that’s claimed to be the size of Europe, Wild (which is just a working title) will feature dynamic weather systems whose nature will alter as the seasons shift and scorching summers give way to the lethal chill of winters. Part of its design ethos was to create something that its developers would have fun with even after months and months of playing, and so this epic landscape is riddled with interactive opportunities and a near unending supply of surprises to discover. The idea is that there will always be something new to find, even in areas already thought to be completely explored and understood.
None of this actually explains an overall goal, of course, if there even is one. Initially it does seem that it could concern the survival of a small tribe which, inexplicably, has an animated skeleton as a shaman. But then you have to take into account all the other animals that will exist in the environment and, importantly, how you’ll be given the opportunity to play as each and every one of them. From wolves and horses to (fittingly) sheep – and you’ll even be able to swim in the waters as a trout.
Does this mean that Wild will be a bit like Tokyo Jungle, but not set in Tokyo or a jungle? Could it be about hunting prey while trying not to be eaten and propagating your species – whatever your species may be that day? All we know for certain is that, whatever it is, it’ll be playable online and as it is being developed solely for the PS4 so it can luxuriate itself with the power of the console and exploit what Ancel describes as its “crazy sharing capabilities”. Brace yourselves, people, because this could be awesome.
FORMAT: PS4
PUBLISHER: Sony
DEVELOPER: Wild Sheep
RELEASED: TBC
ONLINE: Yes