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When developer Monolith Soft retweeted Nintendo's announcement of today's Nintendo Direct presentation, most figured it would finally be time to see more of the developer's new game, tentatively titled X. And, as predicted, Nintendo's presentation featured about 2 minutes of gameplay, which readers can view above.
While not too much is known about X at this point — specifically whether or not it ties into the Xeno series — the gameplay certainly sets itself apart from a lot the Wii U titles available. On top of that, the game looks like a whole lot of fun.
As we already know, X is an open world RPG title that focuses on exploration. Players take control of a single character traversing the landscape, but they are not alone in battle.
Unlike previous Xeno games, however, X deploys a more active battle system. There is no battle trigger, or turn-based set-up — the player simply walks up to an enemy and wails on them.
It's hard to tell exactly what actions the player is triggering since we can't read Japanese, but it appears they have complete freedom of movement and a wealth of abilities to choose from. In a way, the X gameplay looks a lot like a cross between Monster Hunter and an MMO.
However, what sets the game apart from the pack are the "Dolls," large mechs that the player can take control of at anytime. Since the game's open world appears to be peppered with enemies of varying sizes, the Dolls presumably become a huge advantage in battle, allowing the player to take on enemies three times their size. X couldn't come at a more perfect time either, as mechs are all the rage in games right now.
All in all, what Monolith Soft had to show was compelling, if a little truncated. The combat has flashes of familiar RPG tropes, only packaged in a different way. And we can't wait to pilot those Dolls.
That being said, it's been almost a year since this game was first announced, and yet Xeno fans haven't seen too much of X in action. For that matter, neither Monolith Soft nor Nintendo has yet to confirm X's true title. That leads us to believe the game will, at best, make a late fall release, presumably in Japan first.
What do you think of X's gameplay? What are your hopes for the game? Let us know in the comments below.
X (Tentative Title) is targeting a 2014 release for Wii U.
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Source: Nintendo