Sunset Overdrive

In the dystopian Sunset City, the player character can wall-run, use zip-lines, and grind rails to swiftly navigate through it, with a large arsenal of weapons to use.As a result, players can employ different moves including wall running, air-dashing, zip lining, performing parkour, acrobatics, and water traversal.Shown in the head-up display (HUD) of the game, the Meter increases as players perform stylish moves like killing enemies and grinding on-rails without touching the ground.These include the standard assault rifle AK-FU and the TNTeddy grenade launcher, which fires teddy bears strapped to sticks of dynamite,[13] fireworks and toy helicopters.These badges can be used to purchased Overdrives which grant players additional passive skills such as increasing the damage or ammo capacity of a certain type of weapon.Players defend vats of Overcharge Delirium XT from waves of OD'd at night and stop their progression by setting up fortifications and barriers, in a manner similar to tower defense games.Walter admits him into a small group of fellow survivors, which also includes Floyd, a former FizzCo chemist whose concerns about OverCharge's safety went unheeded.To help Walter build a makeshift helicopter to escape the city and reveal the truth about the outbreak, the player goes out looking for a propeller, and rescues nerdy college student Sam in the process.Floyd tells the player about a friend of Walter's named Bryllcream, who is the scout leader of Troop Bushido and can likely help them figure out another escape plan.The player visits the troop's hideout in a Japanese samurai museum, where their interim scout leader Norton claims he hasn't been able to find Bryllcream.The three of them return to the Japanese museum to confront Norton and, in a last-ditch effort to retain leadership of the troop, he chugs a can of OverCharge that turns him into a dragon.After being rescued, Sam suggests that they try to infiltrate FizzCo headquarters in search of evidence, an escape route, and/or a rumored superweapon inside the building.He elaborates that the only people who managed to infiltrate the building are Las Catrinas, a band of La Calavera Catrina-themed Mexican American cheerleaders who rigorously defend the children's ward of a local hospital.The player survives and gets respawned, and it is revealed that the superweapon is the FizzCo building itself, which turns into a giant robot and tries to destroy the city (erasing all evidence of the OverCharge outbreak).They presented their ideas to Insomniac's owners and CEO Ted Price, outlining a project that would borrow influences from the documentary Hyena Men of Kenya, Tank Girl comics, the novel I Am Legend, the British television series The Young Ones, Halloween masks from the 1960s, and Lego.The team now reflected on the reasons for its poor reception, and felt that they should go back to Insomniac's roots — developing unusual titles with vibrant visuals — instead of another dark shooter like Fuse.The grinds were designed to be longer than usual in enemy-concentrated areas so as to allow additional time for players to consider both combat and traversal options.In order to encourage experimentation, the game features a vertical map-design, in which the difficulty of enemies increases as players move towards higher ground.The developers felt that this feature would suit the story, because the game's city enters a state of anarchy, where social norms no longer exist.The team originally added role-playing games-styled stats to the game's costumes, but later decided to scrap that so that players "would just choose what they thought looked cool."[37] The goal was to make players feel that the post-apocalyptic world in Sunset Overdrive is fun and limitless,[33] delighting and lively, instead of a place that is dreadful and worrying.The team also intentionally avoided creating a very serious tone because the final product needed to be entertaining and comparable to games like Crazy Taxi and Jet Grind Radio, instead of something too serious that looked like an interactive movie.[39] The team emphasized "fun trumps realism" and reflected that through the "Next-gen Respawn" system, unrealistic weaponry, and the game's visual style.This version of the city featured interior structures that could be explored by players, and existed when the game's core concept revolved around "scavenge, craft, defend".The team wanted to achieve a "high energy vibe" for this title and the resulting soundtrack features a lot of punk rock and electronic dance music.Insomniac denied such rumors, saying the company would still be working with other publishers to produce titles and that petitions would not change Sunset Overdrive's status as an Xbox exclusive.[80] Bischoff considered the shooting mechanic "loose", but thought that the problem was overshadowed by the game's forgiving aiming and steady difficulty curve.Bischoff praised the arsenal of weapons featured in the game, which he thought was deep, interesting, and creative, benefited by the Amps system, which added additional complexity to them.[95] However, as the rights to the intellectual property is wholly owned by Insomniac, they would need to find a new publishing partner that can support the game's large scope.[100] A planned Sunset Overdrive sequel was purportedly in production since 2015, but was cancelled the following year in favor of the studio prioritizing Marvel's Spider-Man (2018) for PlayStation 4.