One title that I’m surprised hasn’t garnered more attention out of this year’s E3 is a little game by the name of Shadow Complex. When Epic’s Cliffy B was ushered onstage at the Microsoft press conference, many a fanboy’s inner geek squeaked at the thought of a new Gears of War related announcement. What they got instead was something that, in their disappointment, they probably disregarded. I, however, watched with interest.
Shadow Complex is a side-scrolling action adventure title built on the Unreal 3 engine and set in the world of Orson Scott Card’s novel, “Empire”. What immediately struck me were how much what I was watching reminded me of old school titles like the early Metroid series, Flashback and Out of This World/Another World. I was actually rather pleased to hear 1UP’s Garnett Lee mention on ListenUP’s first E3 2009 podcast that he too flashed on OoTW. But enough rambling – take a look at the trailer for yourself.
Back? Good. Now what’s made even more enticing about this game is the fact that it’s going to be an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive. Yep – a downloadable.
I’m really starting to like the idea of the publishers taking bigger chances on titles like this that would never see the light of day as a boxed retail release and with Epic guiding and helping promote it, I hope it does well in the marketplace. Chances are this will likely clock in around the $20/1600 space buck price point, but for what they’ve said is around 10 hours of play time? That’s a better value proposition than some $60 retail games if you ask me.
Hit the jump for some Metroidvania-esque screens.
