What Can We Expect from Perfect Dark?

The first Perfect Dark launched back in 2000 for the Nintendo 64. It received critical acclaim for having unique weapons, exceptional gameplay, and nailing the female lead. After Microsoft’s buyout of Rare, we saw a sequel for the game in 2005 called Perfect Dark: Zero and a remaster of the original game in 2010 for the Xbox 360. Despite being commercially successful, the franchise was left in the dust for some reason.

This was the case until Microsoft’s new studio, The Initiative, revealed that the game they’re working on is… Perfect Dark. It is a reboot of the franchise and we got the confirmation in last year’s Game Awards hosted by Geoff Keighly, but the rumour had been going around for a while.

Graphics & Gameplay

First spotted by Klobrille on Twitter, who shared a job listing from The Initiative which confirmed that the game will be running on Unreal Engine 4. There has been no mention of the studio upgrading to Unreal 5 but you can still expect Perfect Dark to look breathtaking as it is considered to be a AAAA game by Microsoft.

As far as the gameplay goes, there has been no gameplay footage shared for the next Perfect Dark. But, to make an educated guess and using the description shared by the developers for the upcoming game, it will indeed be a first-person shooter and will feature various weapons, gadgets, and a camera surveillance system. The first game was level-based and featured many unique weapons that stand out to this very day, and we can expect a similar approach for this reboot and may even see some weapons returning from the older PD.

Based on the developers’ interview and trailer premiered at The Game Awards, the game may be featuring some Mirror’s Edge-like parkour and physicality based off of the GoPro body cam movements that we saw in the trailer and the developer emphasising on the protagonist ‘sliding under things, jumping over things.’

Perfect Dark will probably have the same core mechanics as the original games, and revamp all of the outdated stuff. It’s likely going to have larger level designs and a vast roster of guns and gadgets compared to the previous entries.

Updates

The Initiative has been on a hiring spree since 2018, but has only been hiring industry veterans for their AAAA studio. With experienced developers who have previously worked on mega-hit franchises like God of War, Uncharted, Tomb Raider, and Halo, Microsoft seems to be determined to make this studio one of the best and to make Perfect Dark a title worth remembering.

Recently, The Initiative revealed that Crystal Dynamics, known for its work in the Tomb Raider series, has been helping them co-develop Perfect Dark. It’s common for big games to get support studios to help them out, but the point worth mentioning here is that Crystal Dynamics know how to make a strong female lead which makes me even more confident on this iteration of Joanna Dark.

Perfect Dark update! We are partnering with Crystal Dynamics, the world class team behind character-driven games such as Tomb Raider, to bring this first-person spy thriller to a new generation. pic.twitter.com/EiqjU99wMa

— TheInitiative (@TheInitiative) September 24, 2021

 

Story & Setting

The game is described as an ‘eco sci-fi’ where there have been ecological disasters on a global scale which we get to see in the trailer. There is also a narrator describing how the world has been changed (for the worse) by storms, fires, and floods. The trailer also suggests that there are corporations that claim to help solve these things and seem pretty good to the average person, but once you scratch past the surface there are things that have to be ‘stopped,’ and that is probably where we come in. Joanna is seen standing on top of one of dataDyne corporation’s buildings, an organisation that is returning from the original game. The corporation specialises in military, research, and commercial production and was known for its dodgy criminal activity in previous games.

The original Perfect Dark featured two alien races having a presence on Earth and was set in the year 2023. But since 2023 isn’t so far off now, it is fair to expect that the game might put the players more into the future. We also don’t know if the alien races will be returning, because, arbitrating from the trailer, it seems that they plan to take a different approach to the sci-fi genre. However, I’ll be disappointed if there is no cameo of Elvis.

Judging by the trailer shown, we see the initial setting-design of the game and we get to see writings in Arabic, many mosques and Joanna standing on a building located in a desert-ish area with three pyramids in the background, so the game is probably set in Egypt. We also know that the game is set sometime in the ‘near-future’.

Release Date & Platforms

Unfortunately, Perfect Dark does not have a release date or a release window yet. During the game’s announcement in 2020, it was revealed that it is ‘early in development’. Building a studio from the ground up is already hard enough and once you factor in COVID-19, it can be exceptionally difficult.

However, thanks to the studio’s recent partnership with Crystal Dynamics, things should start ramping up and the development cycle should be faster. The tentative release date for Perfect Dark is set for 2023 according to industry insider Jeff Grubb. And if I were to speculate, May of 2023 makes the most sense because the original game is set in… May of 2023, so it could be a fun easter egg.

Perfect Dark is launching exclusively on the Xbox Series X|S and PC. I, for one, can’t wait to play as Joanna again!