New details regarding Xbox's cancelled Perfect Dark reboot have leaked online through a report on MP1st, giving us a little more of an idea of what this game might have tried with its gameplay mechanics, the opportunity its developer The Initiative and Microsoft saw with it, and a few pieces of concept art.
When Microsoft announced that Perfect Dark was going to be the debut game for its new "AAAA" studio, The Initiative in 2020, even if there was a sense that it was announced far too early, there was a buzz of excitement from fans. Jump ahead five years, and not only is the Perfect Dark reboot cancelled, but The Initiative is gone, with the studio and its would-be debut game being one of the many major casualties from Microsoft's massive 9,000+ layoff this past July.
Before any of that happened, per MP1st's sources, Microsoft saw bringing back Perfect Dark as a chance to take advantage of the fact that two other major videogame secret agent-types were missing from the industry, namely 007 and Solid Snake. Of course, that's no longer the case, with Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater putting the MGS series firmly back in players' minds and IO Interactive working up to its 007 First Light release, but back in 2020, both series had been absent from gaming for some time.
Gameplay-wise, the documentation mentions three concepts called the Relentless System, the Reward System, and the Adrenaline System, though only the last of those three were detailed in the documents.
The Adrenaline system would have let players slow down time to dodge incoming bullets, line up their own shots, and move faster than surrounding enemies. It would also have let Joanna Dark do more damage to enemies, heal more, and reduce damage taken.
There's also mention of a vertical slice that would have consisted of "Season 1" for the game, which gives some weight to rumors that the game would have had an episodic-style release, though at this point, who can say if they would have definitively gone that route.
Overall, to say it's unfortunate that this game never came to pass is an understatement, especially since it was almost saved after Microsoft dropped the ball. Yes, Joanna Dark no longer would have had the open window previously granted due to the absence of MGS and 007, but I doubt that anyone would have minded having three great modern stealth-action games to play.
Just last week, former studio head of The Initiative, Darrell Gallagher, left Xbox, and said he "couldn’t be prouder of the talented and passionate team I had the privilege assemble and lead."
"I leave with nothing but pride in what we accomplished together and excitement for what’s next — both for myself and for the amazing developers I was fortunate enough to work with."
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
