A new game has been revealed in this week’s Gamescom, that promises quite the throwback.
Nekki unveiled a trailer for their upcoming action title named SPINE – This Is Gun Fu. As reported by Gematsu, they provided this description to go with it:
“SPINE is a single-player, story-rich action game where the player takes on the role of rebellious street artist Redline, accompanied by her sentient combat implant, Spine. Players join them as they challenge the autocratic AI regime of Tensor Corporation while learning to trust each other.
SPINE features camerawork and combat choreography by action movie stunt specialists and is powered by Unreal Engine 5 and Nekki’s original animation engine, Cascadeur, making players the star of their own action movie where no two fights are the same.”
The trailer doesn’t really tell us much about what Spine does here, and that could be hinting at bigger things that Nekki haven’t shown us yet. As it is, we can see that this one has the makings of a fine action game, hearkening to a time before live service. For what it’s worth, Nekki has yet to reveal details on this game’s monetization, or for that matter, any release date or release window. They did announce that it is coming to the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.
As for the game itself, it doesn’t seem to be a shooter at all, even with Redline visibly packing her pistol around. Without a reticle or a first person mode, she seems to use the back of her gun to strike opponents, or shoot them after she strikes them down. It doesn’t seem practical, but then again, it seems to be a pretty accurate depiction of gun fu.
And you can bring up your favorite throwback or retro 3D action game here. Devil May Cry, maybe Infamous, Bayonetta, and more recent takes at the genre that maybe haven’t done as well, like Remember Me or Wanted: Dead. The parallels to that onetime Eliza Dushku title, Wet, are hard to ignore either. But then again, this trailer really doesn’t tell us all that much about the game. What does Spine actually do? Is there some mechanic that we aren’t being shown yet, like bullet time, or an FPS mode?
So we don’t know how this title will make out, but it’s at least worth putting on the radar. You can watch the Gamescom trailer for SPINE – This Is Gun Fu below.
