Gas Powered Games teamed up with Sega two months ago and promised us a new RPG was in store. Today they fulfilled their promise with Sega’s announcement of the action RPG Space Siege. The jump from Warcraft to StarCraft worked well for Blizzard a decade ago, so the jump from Dungeon Siege to Space Siege should work well too, right? Gas Powered Games stresses that their space combat game will focus on a dynamic character development system, but I’ll stay skeptical until we see some videos. Here’s the brief story overview:
Space Siege takes place in the confines of the Armstrong, one of the few remaining colonization ships carrying the last bastions of human civilization after a devastating attack on Earth from an unknown alien race. Players will take the role of Seth Walker, a cybernetics engineer suddenly thrust into a struggle to save humanity from extermination. As the adventure progresses Seth is offered opportunities to sacrifice pieces of his humanity for cybernetic upgrades that will assist him in his mission to preserve the human race. But what price will he pay to save his own humanity? Only the player can decide Seth’s ultimate fate.
Exploring the dilemmas of saving humanity by becoming a cybernetic freak like the foes who threaten our existence in space could be interesting. I’ve always wondered what a Cybernetic Tiger Z actually would look like. Depending on how you change your body structure, the enemies will also react differently both in gameplay tactics and even storyline paths. If the innovative body augmentation system is complex and balanced enough, it could be a refreshing break from the point and click MMOs that most of the RPG players are addicted to.
On top of the advanced single player gameplay mechanics, Space Siege also offers a co-op multiplayer mode for up to four players to take part in the fun. Will it deliver the galactic goods, or will it end up being yet another disappointing RPG? I can’t wait to find out, it’s currently scheduled for a simultaneous Europe and North American PC release in the first quarter of 2008.
