Xbox One’s exclusive action-JRPG doesn’t want for scale
Hideki Kamiya starts his presentation of a pre-alpha Scalebound by stressing that, even though the session will focus on combat, this isn’t a traditional action game, but an action-RPG. The game channels Kamiya’s work on Okami as much as it does Bayonetta, then, and we’re promised a vast world in which to showboat.
At the centre of Scalebound are two figures: Drew, a cocksure, headphone-sporting guy from Earth who finds himself transported to the world of Draconis, and a hulking great dragon named Thuban (pronounced ‘toobahn’). The pair have become bonded, sharing a single life force, and the story will focus on their developing relationship.
The bond has imbued Drew with powers, allowing him to draw from an energy source known as The Pulse. Via his now-scaly arm, he can fire blasts of energy and punch really hard. Thuban, meanwhile, is AI-controlled and, according to Kamiya, “acts on its own wishes”, but players are able to use commands to guide it to targets, ask for protection, or get it to hold back from the fray.
We see how the system works during a battle in a large valley full of gnarled trees. Following an encounter with a few bands of small enemies, a giant mantis rocks up to even the odds. The spectacular fight that ensues has the central duo working together to topple the behemoth. Drew uses a stun mine to temporarily paralyse the beast, allowing Thuban to get in close, and then the human launches himself onto the insect’s oversized leg, hacking at it with his sword. Transforming into dragon form increases his strength temporarily, making short work of the appendage. After severing two more, Drew orders Thuban to deliver the finishing blow, which the dragon does via its breath attack.
Once fallen, some enemies’ bodies will calcify, allowing Drew to carve out red gems – the game’s currency. For smaller beasts, however, Thuban’s attack is so powerful that it will destroy all trace of them, meaning that you’ll have to pick between letting the dragon easily clear your path or ordering it to stay back to turn a profit. You won’t have that choice in all spaces, though, since Thuban is too big for some areas. During one section, Drew moves into a fracture in the rock while Thuban hovers outside, just out of range.
But the pair’s shared life force makes straying too far apart unwise. If Thuban is hurt badly, its condition will quickly decline and it’ll begin to calcify. If Drew can get back to his partner in time, he’s able to use his Pulse powers to reverse the damage, but if Thuban expires then so will he. While the serpent can’t return the healing favour, it can be requested to swoop in and protect Drew if he finds himself in serious trouble.
It’s not only during combat that you’ll have to call on Thuban’s power, and in one example we see it destroy a tangle of giant tree roots that are obstructing the gate to a dungeon. You’ll also be able to call on aid from up to three other friends, but Kamiya isn’t yet ready to discuss the details of online co-op play. It’s one of many murky details and, given the demo’s focus and the pre-alpha state of the build, it’s difficult to foresee exactly how these combat systems will fill out the dozen of hours that this JRPG will span. But Kamiya hints at a structure that borrows a little from Destiny and the MMORPG template.
“Bayonetta can be seen as a shorter cycle game – you may want to go back and hone your skills a bit more, or you might be so satisfied that you’ve completed it that that can be the end of it,” he says. “Same goes for a game like Okami. Now, with Scalebound, because the world is so large, my hope is that [players won’t just] go from beginning to end and that’s it. There are so many [sidequests] that we’re going to be sprinkling throughout this vast world that I hope you’ll go back to dungeons and pick up items that weren’t available to you at that time, and want to clear it in a different way.”