Ten years after the game's original announcement in August 2016, Japanese developer Cygames has revealed that the action RPG Project Awakening is still in development and finally picking up pace. Back then, it was supposed to be the first console game from the once-mobile-first studio, but Cygames has since released Granblue Fantasy: Versus and Granblue Fantasy: Relink (which just received an expansion titled Endless Ragnarok).
Anyway, in an interview with the Japanese website CGWorld, Tomino Kimihiro from Cygames said about Project Awakening:
We're now at a stage where production will really accelerate. The development team consists of staff who have been involved from the beginning, as well as staff who joined after finishing the development of "Relink." It's a major project with Tokyo and Osaka working together as one.
The developer also shared details about the visual style and technology, confirming a switch from the proprietary Cyllista engine to Unreal Engine 5, as Cygames now aims for "hyper-photorealism". The greatest amount of info dump was about combat, though:
Some of the members who were in charge of action production for "Relink" are also participating, so I feel that we are able to utilize their expertise in things like the responsiveness when you press a button.
However, since this game is set in a photorealistic human world, the tempo of the action itself is slower compared to "Relink". We have slowed it down to a tempo where players can enjoy making decisions such as "dodging" or "blocking" when they see an enemy's attack, and while ensuring responsiveness to the controls, we have created a weighty motion that gives a sense of "lingering effect" to the movement.
Furthermore, in order to express a sense of realism, we are designing it in a direction that increases the variety of motions. For example, even if you repeatedly press a button to perform the same combo, the behavior will change if there is a difference in terrain. As for the enemies, when they are knocked down, they do not just fall with a fixed motion, but will try to attack the player while lying down, aiming for behavior that conveys the "sense of life" of the monsters.
Essentially, combat will be slower and more tactical than Granblue Fantasy: Relink, which is perfectly understandable given that the visuals itself is a lot more realistic.
It sounds like we'll finally get to play Project Awakening at some point, though it's hard to say when. Still, stay tuned for more updates as they become available.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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