A few months ago Ninja Theory’s inevitable Heavenly Sword follow-up was revealed under the guise of Enslaved. While the name left a little to be desired, the wildly imaginative art direction spoke for itself. Post-apocalyptic settings have been done to death, so it was refreshing to see a slightly different take on the aesthetic. Enslaved screens exposed a ruined landscape ripe with lush, vibrant vegetation, and a fry cry from the monochromatic grey hues that seemingly plague every other game out there.
From a gameplay standpoint, Enslaved played like a mix of Uncharted, Heavenly Sword, and Prince of Persia. Straight melee combat was the name of the game for the considerably long demo. Light and heavy attacks cave way to combos, and the machine-based foes fell quite easily under Monkey’s (not a literal monkey, it’s your character’s name)staff-based attacks.
Until a reasonable distance was placed between you and your foes. Projectiles, you see, hurt, and the only way to avoid them was to run interference. During this opportunities would appear for you and your female AI companion, Trip, to distract your aggressors. This amounted to either Monkey or Trip drawing their fire while we made a break for cover/a door/etc. Occasionally that would also include some light platforming and ledge navigating, which played more toward your skill in finding a suitable ledge than pure platforming prowess, ala Uncharted.
Bits of technology also found their way into Enslaved. The device attached to Monkey’s head is your primary concern, but Trip also managed to outfit for with a few augmented reality devices. This mechanic was used to grant me insight toward the location of concealed landmines, which only I could see. That required I pick up Trip and physically escort her across the tortured landscape.
Speaking of the AI, she was a pleasant surprise. It was far too small of a slice of the game to draw any solid conclusions, but she was more Alyx Vance than Sheva Alomar. Even when I was using her as a distraction her life didn’t seem particularly at risk, suggesting that the when and where was more of a focus the usual bodyguard job. It almost seemed overly scripted, but it was hardly something to complain about.
If anything about Enslaved gives me pause it’s the slightly lethargic combat. In a post Bayonetta world characters that seem locked into their animation routines is somewhat disappointing. I understand that Enslaved’s framework probably accounts for its particular style, but I couldn’t help but wish Bayonetta’s brand of fluid motion had become the new standard.
But that’s a minor squabble, we’re still heavily looking forward to Enslaved, and we’ll be sure to have more coverage later this year.
