Developer Iron Galaxy, the studio behind fighting games Divekick and Killer Instinct, announced today their newest retail games project: Extinction. Extinction looks to be something of a fantasy hack-and-slash game, although it’s difficult to know for sure with the limited information we have so far. For now, here’s the action-packed cinematic announcement trailer.
From time immemorial, the world has been at war. For generations, humans have fought one another for land and riches while our true enemies have lurked in the distance: throngs of ravenous monsters standing 150 feet tall that aim to destroy our kind. Only those trained in the ways of the ancient order stand a chance at defeating these monstrosities, known colloquially as “ogres.” You are one of the world’s last defenders, a warrior named Avil equipped with the skill, speed and strength to oppose the endless wave of Ravenii and prevent a fate worse than death: Extinction.
The gameplay of Extinction is described as “dynamic”, as players engage in skill-based combat with a high degree of mobility in a three-dimensional space. Players will be able to run on walls and vault upwards with a whip, allowing for speedy vertical movement as they seek to get an angle on the enemy ogres’ weak points.
If this sounds familiar to you, it’s because this description lines up very closely with last year’s Attack on Titan: Wings of Freedom, the anime adaptation game from Omega Force that put players in the shoes (and grappling hooks and rocket thrusters) of the main characters of the popular anime series Attack on Titan. Several games journalism sites have already noticed that, from the scale of the enemies, to the highly-mobile combat style, to the existence of “weak spots”, the similarities do seem to pile up.
For now, we are cautiously optimistic that Extinction will bring more to the table than previous iterations of AoT adaptations, through its additional features. Extinction will feature some form of player customization and progression, with players able to “progress along different skill trees to develop a path best suited to your playstyle.” The game will also provide fully-destructible environments, and the ability to create your own custom battlegrounds and maps, complete with customizable objectives and challenges, to then share online. Extinction also promises a “deep story campaign”, “dynamic side missions”, and an “Extinction Mode”, in which the player will be put up against endless waves of monsters, fighting for as long as they possibly can before they are overwhelmed.
Extinction is scheduled to release sometime in the first half of 2018, with more information to come at this year’s E3.