14 DAY TRIAL // The announcement that the next big project from Crytek was a new Homefront title, called The Revolution, might have surprised fans of the company, but the development team says that it will introduce some interesting new mechanics to the franchise.
The studio believes that the universe created for the series is an interesting one that was never able to express itself in the original title.
To change that, Crytek is aiming to make Homefront: The Revolution the first shooter that focuses on true to life guerrilla tactics, showing how a smaller specialized force can defeat more powerful enemies if it utilizes both the terrain and the population well.
Fasahat Salil, a game designer working on the new experience, tells Eurogamer that, “All of the content is geared around hit and run stuff. We want to get the player to do something and then melt back into the population - that's the essence of being a guerrilla fighter, you can't linger or you'll be hit back by the response.”
Part of the focus can be seen in the first trailer for the game, which shows a quick attack on a checkpoint that quickly turns sour for the American rebels when the Korean People’s Army brings in armor and superior numbers.
Salil says that his company is creating a number of big missions that end in massive firefights, designed to push forward the story of The Revolution and to allow for character development.
He adds, “But apart from that - ambushes, assassinations, sabotage on KPA structure... we want to litter the world with stuff for people to do but focus it on guerrilla tactics. You can't just pick up a gun and start shooting people, you have to utilize the world around you.”
Crytek has used an open world structure for its series of Crysis video games, but there, the protagonist was not underpowered and the gameplay focused on the use of superior power to take out large numbers of enemies.
In the new Homefront, the studio will try to make players feel like the underdogs, forcing them to carefully plan their attacks and then hide as soon as possible to escape retribution.
Crytek says that it’s happy that it managed to acquire rights to the franchise when THQ went bankrupt and that it has big plans for the game world.
Homefront: The Revolution will be launched on the PC, the PlayStation 4 from Sony and the Xbox One in 2015.