sisslethecat
Predator is very arguably the backbone of 80s horror action movies. The peak of this type of movie being fun (something none of the sequels or spin-offs ever managed to recapture really), Predator is a classic movie monster that deserves better video games than Aliens vs Predator 3, the last game it starred in. Most recently it guest starred as a fighter in Mortal Kombat X, but other than that it’s been a dry well of gaming content featuring the ultimate hunter. Well, no more! Friday the 13th co-developer IllFonic Games (not Gun Media) is working with 20th Century Fox (Disney lol) on a new asymmetrical multiplayer game, Predator: Hunting Grounds. Crazy enough, the game also appears to be PS4 exclusive, which seems like a weird move. But hey, if Epic can do it, Sony can do it.
We don’t know a whole heck of a lot about it, other than what we can glean from this pre-rendered trailer. It appears to be set in modern day, based on the spec-ops looking soldiers and set (at least partially) in South America based on the local. The Inca temple in the distance gives off whiffs of AVP, but that is pretty concretely in this lore now so oh well. It’s also great to hear the original Alan Silvestri theme (although it sounds like a new version of it). We didn’t get to see any gameplay, but GameRant got some information regarding that:
IllFonic CEO Charles Brungardt provided some details later. The game takes heavy inspiration from the original Predator film in more ways than one.
Players controlling the soldiers will be armed with conventional weapons such as shotguns, SMGs, and sniper rifles. They will be tasked with carrying out missions like shooting enemies and recovering items from their camps. All the while the Predator will utilize alien technology to track and hunt soldiers without being seen.
IllFonic’s CEO admits that the game is still early in development and much of the game still has to be hammered out. However, he’s confident in what they’re creating based on their experience creating Friday the 13th. IllFonic will be applying the lessons it learned from Friday the 13th to Predator.
Well, that’s good news. Friday the 13th (despite CJ’s love for it) had a very rocky launch, and it’s soured the title for fans indefinitely it seems. I’m curious to see how matches will play out, as the whole point of the Predator is how insanely overpowered it is. Without nerfing it to dust (which is what Aliens vs Predator 3 did, active camo lasting for literal seconds my foot) the best course of action, in my opinion, would be to really go all in on the concepts of the first film: shooting only results in a lot of noise. The original film had whits and planning prevail. Both the humans and the hunter (by the way, there damn well better be multiple versions to play as, the Jungle Hunter, the City Hunter, Scar, etc) laying traps for each other, with stealth and cunning being what leads to a win. Taking cues from the Batman Arkham series would also be a pretty good call — the Jungle Hunter especially stalked through 90% of that movie without ever really being seen. Getting more points or XP or whatever for clearing a match without ever being seen sounds rad, and a great way to create fear in a multiplayer setting.
We’ll see soon enough I suppose. It’s set for a 2020 release, which means we’ll more than likely be seeing gameplay during E3 (even though Sony won’t be having a stage presence, they for sure will be doing one of their State of Play streams). We’ll keep you updated.
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