Official news out of Konami confirms that the company’s planned ship date for NeverDead has been bumped up. The unique third-person shooter/action game hybrid from Rebellion Developments, was supposed to launch sometime in February. Now, it’s slated for a January 31 release.
Brought to conception by Shinta Nojiri (whose resume includes work completed on some Metal Gear Solid titles), the game features a lead character who can take quite a beating before officially dying. Losing your head or any amount of limbs during game play, will result in a chance to re-grow/heal your body parts. Head throwing/bowling also factors in at certain points, in order to aid with puzzles and combat. Aiding these mechanics is a right joystick-controlled sword, which packs a slicing punch.
Based on a decent amount of time spent with its demo at a Konami event, NeverDead has piqued my interest. In early demo state, the game showed potential, and included some enjoyable gameplay action. Hopefully all of its potential will be harnessed early next year, when the final product is officially released.
For more information about this ship date change, you can check out the company’s latest press release. It also hints at NeverDead downloadable content news, which is expected to be revealed in the near future.
Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. today announced that NeverDead for the PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360® will be available in stores on January 31st, 2012.
The brainchild of Shinta Nojiri, and co-developed with Rebellion Software, NeverDead stars an immortal hero named Bryce Boltzmann who, alongside his partner Arcadia, works for an agency tasked with defeating demonic incursions. While demons from the dawn of time emerge on present-day Earth, players take on the role of the immortal demon slayer, Bryce, as they seek and destroy the hostile invaders.
“In NeverDead, we’ve gone all out to change the approach the player takes in battle,” said Shinta Nojiri, creator of NeverDead.” Losing a limb is a mere inconvenience and Bryce’s physical skills allow a wealth of ways to take out the enemy – from close-range combat, to throwing limbs into clusters of monsters and shooting them remotely. This adds a level of humor to the game that brings the world-weary main character to life, while players revel in game worlds that are fully interactive and eminently destructible.”
As the monsters get larger and more vicious in the game, the side-effect of Bryce’s immortality is revealed. While attacked, players can be torn limb from limb, but can then reattach the parts to their body. Even when all limbs have been removed, players can roll around as a head, looking to reattach lost parts. Gamers can also use their amputated body parts as weapons, throwing arms into clusters of monsters, or lobbing their head into seemingly impossible areas to gain access to new sections of the NeverDead map.
KONAMI will also release information on upcoming NeverDead DLC soon.