Project Mugen, NetEase and Naked Rain's new urban fantasy title, have just dropped a debut trailer. Read on to learn more about what the game has in store.
Project Mugen Aims To Conquer The Cities And Skies
Trailer Turns Heads With Their Incredible Gameplay And Characters
Publisher NetEase and Thunder Fire Studio developer Naked Rain recently released their first promotional video (PV) for their upcoming game Project Mugen. It’s an open-world RPG developed as a "love letter to urban fantasies," according to the senior marketing director at Thunder Fire Studio, Riten Huang.
"We wanted to create a world that players could relate to, yet find enough mysteries to keep them coming back. The city is alive, and every player will have their unique journey through it."
Their words ring true, as the trailer provides enough of a glimpse into the game to realize that it contains far more than just wandering NPCs.
The city is brimming with life, from commuters trying to get to work, students walking through crossroads while engrossed in their phones (please don't do that), to innocent bystanders reacting with shock to your shenanigans.
" Today's unveiling of Project Mugen extends beyond this announcement; it represents NetEase Games' spirit of global collaboration, creativity, and innovation to push the envelope in interactive storytelling. This project draws on development talent from Hangzhou to Montreal, reflecting our dedication to transcending boundaries and redefining gaming experiences," NetEase Games senior vice president, Ethan Wang, further commented.
Indeed, Project Mugen's story does seem like it's aiming for the stars. It's got slice-of-life, philosophical searches for meaning, conflict with law enforcement, blurred lines between right and wrong, and, of course, the possibility of romance (though, let's be honest; people will ship characters even if there isn't any). Hopefully, the final product can live up to the trailer or perhaps even step into the gritty realm where mobile games like Arknights' and Punishing Gray Raven's amazing stories thrive.
With regards to the gameplay itself, many lines of similarities can be drawn between the game and a few other titles. For one, just because there are skyscrapers around doesn't mean they’re there to serve as a barrier to your exploration. The game provides you with the tools to navigate through the urban jungle, such as cars to drive, a scooter that suspiciously looks like a Honda Motocompo (a character also uses it as a weapon), and, just like in Marvel's Spider-Man (or Attack on Titan for you anime fans), some sort of wire that you can use to latch onto any high point and swing with.
Its combat, on the other hand, looks mostly like any generic mobile action RPG, such as Aether Gazer or Genshin Impact; characters have generic movesets that can be chained with skills and ultimates. Whether or not the game will support aerial combat remains to be seen. However, a portion of the trailer does show that Project Mugen will have characters with unique moves that can turn the standard action RPG experience into something else, such as turning it into a third-person shooter like Snowbreak: Containment Zone.
One thing's for sure: there will be moves that trigger a unique cutscene for each character, likely something that resembles or functions the same as ultimate skills. Whether or not the game will support switching characters on the fly remains to be seen.
Speaking of animations, the game might have a significant portion of its cutscenes fully animated. That is, if all of the cutscenes used in the trailer will be part of the game, then under the assumption that those are only a tiny fraction of what the entire game will provide, we can predict that a great many fully animated events await us when the game finally releases. And that's great!
We've long been fed by other games with dull scenes where characters interact with only still images to represent them with a dialogue box underneath, such as the Neptunia series. Although some take the time to animate their models to add immersion, there's only a handful of games where fully-animated cutscenes are abundant, such as in Final Fantasy XV and XVI.
"By merging a modern metropolis setting with elements of mysticism, we're excited to create a world where every player can find a moment that resonates with them." NetEase Games Senior Vice President Ethan Wang's words show the hard work of the team behind this ambitious, story-driven game.
Project Mugen's promotional video certainly set some incredibly high expectations. Its fluid, stylish, fast-paced combat, exciting story, together with the generous freedom afforded to the players and its cast of colorful characters, turned a lot of heads during its PV premier. The video's comments section flooded with people's excited reactions and expectations, with some even encouraging the developers to take their time with the game to deliver the best product possible.
Of course, we echo that sentiment. Since the game will be free to play, it's all but guaranteed to have microtransactions as a way to monetize its content. But regardless of whether there's going to be gacha involved or a simple shop where characters or equipment can be purchased, every player is more than willing to support the game if they genuinely enjoy it. And achieving that is simple: just deliver a fantastic game.
As of writing, there are already close to 100 thousand pre-registrations. The game's pull can be felt with how the servers seemed to have stalled during the first few minutes of the PV's release, which immediately amassed almost two thousand pre-registrants during the first minute of its preview.
Unfortunately, there's no release date for the game at the moment. Since mobile games tend to get swallowed by a quagmire of delays, we predict a respectable 2024 launch. However, there's still a bit over three months left of 2023, so who knows?
Pre-Register for Project Mugen
