Infamous Second Son Paper Trail Unlocks Rewards

Despite launching on a single platform, the PS4 exclusive inFamous: Second Son managed to sell over $1 million copies in a single month - ensuring that future inFamous sequels will remain a priority for Sony. After all, while Titanfall managed to top March NPD sales, the game was on the market longer and released across multiple platforms (later adding the Xbox 360 in April), meaning that even though Second Son came in at number two, Sucker Punch Productions managed to push a lot of units (especially considering 7 million PS4 consoles have been sold).

Still, while the game has racked-up positive reviews across the board, the actual content in the title is somewhat limited. A 10-hour campaign that's supplemented with (sometimes redundant) side missions left some gamers wanting more - even if there is an entire second side of the morality system, with new power options, to explore. Gamers who pre-ordered Second Son were treated to a set of DLC missions in the form of "Cole's Legacy" but, while the add-on wraps-up lingering story threads, the actual combat scenarios weren't particularly memorable . Still, Sucker Punch also put together a cross-medium experience, "Paper Trail," that follows an escaped conduit in-game as well as through interactive viral marketing content.

Ever since "Paper Trail - Part 1" debuted, many gamers began wondering what rewards might await participants at the conclusion of "Part 6." Given that the central character in "Paper Trail" can control and use Paper, as opposed to Neon, Smoke, etc., players remained hopeful that a new conduit power might be unlocked after completing all of the DLC missions and puzzles.

Infamous Second Son Paper Trail Gameplay

However, in a pair of messages from the official Sucker Punch Twitter, the developer asserts that Paper powers will not be made available - but gamers can look forward to other "Paper Trail" inspired unlocks:

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Days back we highlighted two powers that Sucker Punch had, at one point, considered for inclusion in Second Son - Glass and Wires. While we still do not know the reason neither were ultimately added, maybe they were scrapped altogether or evolved into other (final) powers, there's no denying that creating, balancing, and bug testing Delsin's in-game arsenal must have been extremely time consuming. Without a doubt, it would have been fun to play with more than four core powers but Smoke, Neon, Video, and the final conduit ability (which we won't spoil here), provided plenty of room for experimentation and diversified/personalized combat.

As a result, even though we'd all love to add more abilities to our charged-up Delsin, it was probably unrealistic (though understandable) to think that Sucker Punch would have spent a significant amount of time developing an entire new power as a reward for a DLC experience that required very little in-game asset development. After all, while "Paper Trail" is a cool post-release addition, most of the actual time gamers commit to "playing" its missions will be spent online - pouring over browser based clues, puzzles, and mini-games. Instead, the on-console aspects of "Paper Trail" typically re-use enemies and locations from the main campaign, meaning that while Sucker Punch has managed to provide a cool and interactive post-release DLC story, the studio didn't have to develop very many fresh in-game assets.

Infamous Second Son Paper Trail Puzzles

For that reason, it shouldn't come as too big of a surprise that the rewards for competing "Paper Trail" will be entirely cosmetic - specifically Celia's mask and four custom jackets for Delsin. A new power would have thrown an enormous variable into the mix, whereas costume add-ons and clothing skins are pretty easy to develop - since they just cover or replace the default character model and have very little impact on actual gameplay (if at all). It's likely that the mask, which will be the only wearable add-on, will just slip right into the existing build - selectable as a custom skin (much like the existing jacket options).

Unfortunately, the developer did not include images of the mask or the new jacket designs in the tweets, so we'll have to wait for Part 6 (or another official update) to see exactly what the studio has planned.

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MORE: Rejected inFamous: Second Son Powers Revealed

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inFamous: Second Son is now available exclusively for the PS4. The "Paper Trail" DLC concludes on Friday, April 25th 2014.

Follow me on Twitter @benkendrick.

Source: Sucker Punch