In an interview with EGM at E3, Rage 2 director Magnus Nedfors expanded on why the upcoming shooter won’t be including a multiplayer element. A few teases were also thrown in, including a mysterious feature that could form how players will upgrade and customize their character.
After Bethesda’s official unveiling of Rage 2 during its E3 showcase, Avalanche Studios and id Software revealed the upcoming game will be entirely single-player, with no plans for multiplayer functionalities. While it’s an odd choice for the first-person genre, Nedfors explained he and the development teams didn’t see multiplayer as a must. “A mistake some games make is to tack on a multiplayer function just so they can put multiplayer on the box,” he said. “Both we [Avalanche Studios] and id Software liked the idea of making the best single-player experience possible without the distraction of having to add on a multiplayer just because others believe every game should.”
According to Nedfors, to make this great single-player title there needed to be ways for players to talk about their journeys through the post-post-apocalyptic wasteland. “What we really wanted to do is give the players tools to share their personal experiences, and we have more ways for the community to do that.” While he said he couldn’t divulge what those “tools” will be, he promised more details will arrive soon.
He also teased there will be more power put into players’ hands through customization. “We will have customization possibilities, but we’ll talk more about that later,” Nedfors said. “In gameplay, we will have upgrades for your weapons, abilities, and so on through something that’s similar to a skill tree, but not exactly the same thing.” While it won’t be a branching system, the director added that this role-playing element will play a part in making your character’s weapons and abilities “function the way you want them to.” Some weapons will even have dual purposes in the game, such as the defibrillator, which will be able to revive a fallen character or stun an enemy.
While there are still more questions left to be answered about Rage 2, we also had a chance to play a demo of the game. Our hands-on time gave us a look at the rage-filled world and high-octane combat, including the Overdrive super abilities.
Rage 2 is currently in development for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, with a launch window of spring 2019.
