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We got a first look at the gameplay in the Perfect Dark reboot coming to Xbox and PC from The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics. These studios, with the help of other partners, are collectively called Team Perfect Dark because, I assume, they are working together on this new Perfect Dark game.
Perfect Dark is a first--person "secret agent thriller" that is set in a near-future world. Specifically, this trailer shows off the game's near-future Cairo setting. Team Perfect Dark pulled inspiration from the first two games but made an entirely new story and game universe for the reboot. Xbox says that you will not need to have prior knowledge of the franchise in order to jump into the new game.
The team says that they are pulling in elements from first-person shooters, immersive sims, and stealth-action for the reboot. They say that the "goal is to offer a true secret agent fantasy - and letting players use their various tools and abilities in the way they want is key to this." There are different ways you can approach missions and encounters, with traversal and gadgets being a major part of the game. Parkour was also shown off during the trailer, which can be used for both traversal and combat abilities. Speaking of combat, the combat system uses melee, gunplay, stealth mechanics, and those aforementioned gadgets.
A small FAQ about the game went up on Xbox.com with a few of those responses seen below. There was no release date shared. We do know Perfect Dark is coming to Xbox, PC (including Steam), and Game Pass.
Who is Joanna Dark?
In this reboot, Joanna (voiced by Alix Regan with Elissa Bibaud lending visual likeness) is an agent for dataDyne, with a deep personal connection to what’s happening to her world. In this case, the title Perfect Dark is more aspirational – this Joanna won’t be perfect, but she’s striving to be. She’ll make mistakes in this journey, and learn from those experiences. Learning who this Joanna is proves to be just as compelling as the story itself.
Where Is the Game Set?
Perfect Dark’s near-future world has been impacted by what’s known as “The Cascade,” in which the planet has suffered from a series of environmental disasters, rendering entire regions inhospitable to human life. In the wake of the disaster, a hypercorporation known as Core Mantis steps in to create a solution known as The GEN Network, and deploys it in Cairo – restoring ecological balance and creating a freshly walled city, insulated from the hostile environment outside to become a center for technological innovation.
In its wake, other hypercorporations step in to continue that regeneration – but, as you might expect, not all is as it seems, and their motives may be less altruistic than they appear. It is key that the setting communicates a hopeful future, seeing a world with both destruction and restoration, the bleakness of the past countered with a sense of promise.
It’s into Cairo that Joanna enters. The setting was chosen to offer a counterpoint to other secret agent stories, and media at large – ancient Egypt and modern Egypt have been seen by many, but a near-future take on the country is truly something new. Cairo itself allows for a balance of deeply old and startlingly new that suits the speculative fiction at the heart of Perfect Dark.
In this reboot, Joanna (voiced by Alix Regan with Elissa Bibaud lending visual likeness) is an agent for dataDyne, with a deep personal connection to what’s happening to her world. In this case, the title Perfect Dark is more aspirational – this Joanna won’t be perfect, but she’s striving to be. She’ll make mistakes in this journey, and learn from those experiences. Learning who this Joanna is proves to be just as compelling as the story itself.
Where Is the Game Set?
Perfect Dark’s near-future world has been impacted by what’s known as “The Cascade,” in which the planet has suffered from a series of environmental disasters, rendering entire regions inhospitable to human life. In the wake of the disaster, a hypercorporation known as Core Mantis steps in to create a solution known as The GEN Network, and deploys it in Cairo – restoring ecological balance and creating a freshly walled city, insulated from the hostile environment outside to become a center for technological innovation.
In its wake, other hypercorporations step in to continue that regeneration – but, as you might expect, not all is as it seems, and their motives may be less altruistic than they appear. It is key that the setting communicates a hopeful future, seeing a world with both destruction and restoration, the bleakness of the past countered with a sense of promise.
It’s into Cairo that Joanna enters. The setting was chosen to offer a counterpoint to other secret agent stories, and media at large – ancient Egypt and modern Egypt have been seen by many, but a near-future take on the country is truly something new. Cairo itself allows for a balance of deeply old and startlingly new that suits the speculative fiction at the heart of Perfect Dark.
