The long-rumored Future cellular recreation is lastly a actuality, with an announcement that brings a debut trailer and phrase of a closed-alpha take a look at on November 1.
Future: Rising is a free-to-play cellular sci-fi RPG shooter set inside the Future universe Bungie has spent the final decade constructing. However this new cellular Future recreation isn’t developed and even revealed by Bungie itself. It’s developed and revealed by NetEase Video games, the Chinese language megacorp behind the likes of Diablo Immortal, As soon as Human, and the upcoming Marvel Rivals, beneath an official license granted by Bungie.
In 2018, NetEase invested over $100 million into Bungie to construct a new recreation. The funding gave NetEase a minority stake in Bungie and a seat on its board of administrators, however all that modified when Sony purchased Bungie for $3.7 billion again in 2022.
Future: Rising™, a model new Mobile Epic Sci-Fi RPG Shooter: ✨ https://t.co/cxUuUfrcL0
Carry the Mild in a bygone age. Deliver hope in a time earlier than Guardians. Save humanity and rise to the problem.
Pre-register NOW for the #DestinyRising Closed Alpha in November. pic.twitter.com/sRBGIIO3yQ
— Future Rising (@_DestinyRising) October 14, 2024
Now, two years after the Sony buyout and six years after NetEase’s funding, Future: Rising is a actuality. And whereas NetEase is the developer and writer of Future: Rising, Bungie is “offering oversight and approvals of the recreation’s growth.”
In phrases of gameplay, Future: Rising has each first-person and third-person choices, with the participant capable of change between them at will. Future: Rising helps touchscreen controls and helps PlayStation and Xbox controllers, in addition to mobile-specific controllers.
Whereas Future: Rising is ready inside the Future universe, its occasions happen in an alternate Future timeline. It explores a story in the post-Darkish Age period (the period that happened after the Collapse of Future’s Golden Age). Right here’s the official blurb:
As a genesis of new potentialities in the Future Universe, Future: Rising delves into an unseen period the place burgeoning hope blooms as soon as once more after a terrifying collapse of civilization and the risks of the ensuing Darkish Age. With the assist of legendary Iron Lords, humanity has damaged free the shackles of tyranny and started to rally collectively in opposition to the alien forces intent on its extinction. Amidst the chaos of this early age for The Metropolis, a new technology of Lightbearers, resurrected by mysterious entities often called Ghosts, got down to restore humanity’s prominence and safe its future.
There’s single-player, co-op, and aggressive multiplayer gameplay, NetEase Video games stated, together with “beloved” recreation modes acquainted to Future gamers, and all-new modes. There are marketing campaign missions and six-player co-op strikes which might be “iconic” to the Future franchise. Maybe we’ll get one thing alongside the strains of the Cerberus Vae III strike from Future 1, whether or not we needed it or not.
As for characters, count on “acquainted” faces from Future in addition to model new characters. There’s clan assist, “enjoyable and informal” get together modes, and customizable shared areas.
Environments embody the sanctuary of Haven (a refuge for the Lightbearers and survivors), the icy, historical metro of Jiangshi, and the arid expanse of the Pink Sea Rift. As you’d count on, Future: Rising as unique weapons, the franchises’ signature weapons.
“For over a decade, now we have constructed this universe to include many distinctive and fantastic tales, and we’re excited to see cellular avid gamers have the ability to expertise this new tackle the Future universe from the artistic workforce at NetEase,” commented Terry Redfield, artistic lead at Bungie.
The announcement of Future: Rising comes at a troubling time for Bungie and the Future franchise after mass layoffs hit the legendary studio earlier this yr. In September, Bungie unveiled what it referred to as “main adjustments” to Future 2 designed to win again gamers. Bungie has reportedly struggled to satisfy key monetary targets, with Future 2 considerably underperforming final yr. The Last Form enlargement, launched in June, reportedly bought much less at launch than 2023’s critically panned Lightfall.’
In a LinkedIn post, Don McGowan, the former normal counsel at Bungie, reacted to the Future 2 adjustments to say he was happy with mum or dad firm Sony’s obvious affect in the resolution making, which, he stated, meant the studio was lastly “working the recreation like a enterprise.”
Bungie reportedly has no plans for Future 3 and has canceled a Future spinoff undertaking often called Payback. Improvement on its Marathon revival is claimed to nonetheless be ongoing.
In December, IGN reported on an obvious scramble by Bungie studio management to keep away from a whole Sony takeover. Then, in March, IGN reported on a management shakeup on Marathon that included the removing of long-time Bungie designer Christopher Barrett from the recreation director position.
Wesley is the UK Information Editor for IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You may attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.