Inside Legendary: The Box (page 2 of 3)

In what ways does the protagonist of the game fit into or deviate from the spectrum of the "classic" hero?

JS: Deckard is an art thief; his value to the world is negative in the best of times. He compounds it by being tricked into opening Pandora's Box which causes the destruction of the world as we know it. At every turn to be reminded that you caused this is a powerful motivation for a hero. But he does have hope. The Signet gives Deckard a chance at redemption, if he can just stay alive long enough.

The use of mythical creatures/monsters seems to raise the stakes in a FPS. How does mixing these creatures in with human opponents impact the tension of the game?

JS: It attacks the comfort zone we've gotten used to in first-person shooters. You get used to a rhythm of encounters in your standard FPS and the creatures blow that up. You can't apply the same logic where you look for the next forward coverpoint you want to shoot from to get a better angle on the enemy. It forces different value judgments like: how much space is behind me, are the creatures helping me for the moment or are they bearing down on me. It can feel chaotic if a player isn't bringing the right tools to the battle and making the right decisions.

Because the protagonist is imbued with a supernatural presence in the beginning of the game, his overall ability to interact with the world around him is somewhat different than that of the common FPS. How does the combat mechanics fit into this fusion?

JS: Because the Signet is bonded to Deckard you have a connection to the Box, the energies of the box and the creatures held in it for thousands of years. This connection allows you to absorb the life-force of the creatures and use it primarily as health so, as you kill creatures, you can replenish your health and the Signet. But you fight human enemies too and they don't give you health. They can give you weapons and ammo which obviously the creatures don't. This creates a value judgment for the player. What do I need, ammo or health? It can impact which side of the combat triangle you want to support. Low on ammo, then focus on the soldiers so you can get their drops before the creatures zero in on you. Low on health, then focus on the creatures so you can take some damage when everyone is after you.

How has mythology inspired or helped to shape the immersive world of Legendary? Will we see any non-real world locations as the game unfolds?

JS: No otherworldly locations in this game. We want to firmly ground you in New York City and London. By starting with the known world we can allow the creatures to shape the world, in front of the player, which we think is a lot of fun. Lots of great developers make mythological worlds with similar creatures and we love playing in those spaces too, but we want to have our own space to bring these creatures to life in and have it be familiar to us all. That way we can bring something unique to players.



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