BABYLON’S FALL

PlatinumGames is bringing us swordplay slick as oil (paintings)

THERE IS A GREAT SENSE OF MOMENTUM TO THE COMBAT.

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Descriptions like ‘Devil May Cry-style character action meets Dark Souls’ usually make us apprehensive, but with PlatinumGames grasping the hilt of the sword we’re ready to cut it up. Babylon’s Fall was teased long ago, at E3 2018 (when we were young and full of hope); we’ve now seen some gameplay, and it’s looking stylish.

The Gothic, cathedral-like architecture isn’t the only thing striking about the visuals our nameless swordsman, a Nomad, runs through – the overall presentation is too. Created using a newly developed Brushwork Filter, the world has a distinctly painterly feel. But while the scenery might look soft and hazy, the swordplay is definitely sharp and pointy.

Ascending a shifting tower, the Nomad wreaks havoc on enemies, which are a mix of stumbling, zombie-style monsters and knights in armour, using a strange, glowing sword. This is the Oversoul, originating from a gleaming device on his back. Like some kind of multi-use kitchen gadget, the Nomad can use the Oversoul as a grapple to pull enemies closer, and fling them into the air to carry on combos.

TO THE POINT

Of course, it’s swordy too – able to manifest as multiple spectral swords that unleash wide slashes and spin attacks. This means the Nomad can jump into the fray, swipe at all the opponents around him, pick one off to fling into the air, pull off some skyborne strikes, and then slam them into the ground. The grapplebased action reminds us of Nero from Devil May Cry V, mixed with Final Fantasy XV’s weaponsummoning Noctis.

There’s a great sense of momentum to the combat, as you’d expect from the legendary developer. It’s not purely offensive, either. The Nomad is sprightly and can move around at high speed, and it looks like he’ll be able to dodge enemy attacks at the last second to gain an advantage, and even parry some attacks that comes his way.

Not only did PlatinumGames recently work on Nier: Automata, it’s been responsible for the likes of Bayonetta, Vanquish, and Metal Gear

Rising too. (See p22 for some exciting news on the first two of those.) Fast-paced action combat is what Platinum does – and it does it extremely well. While we love what we’ve seen of the Nomad’s spectral swordplay, we have to wonder about the other three characters we’ve seen in the artwork. Will they also be playable? And how much might their movesets differ?

It’s all very flashy but the standout moment is the final boss encounter. After scurrying around, ant-like in comparison to the hulking, armoured colossus, the Nomad uses the Oversoul to latch onto the enemy’s oversized weapon and swing it right back at them. We’re salivating to try it out for ourselves, and see what more the Oversoul has in store.

More is set to be revealed from the game in summer, so stick with us!