Scalebound Is Platinum Games’ First Stab At Fantasy

Platinum Games’ new Xbox One exclusive game, Scalebound, has dragons and dragon riding. For creator Hideki Kamiya, it’s a bit of a dream come true.

“When I was in high school, I really enjoyed sword and sorcery fantasy games like Sorcerian on my computer.” Kamiya recalled in an interview. “For some reason I’ve never had a chance to express that sort of love — I mean, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to make games — but with [Scalebound] I’m able to.”

Until now, games developed by Platinum have tended to either be science fiction like Vanquish, or had futuristic elements like The Wonderful 101. For Platinum, this will be their first venture into a hardcore fantasy world.

“I actually didn’t notice that until it was pointed out.” Kamiya said. “We didn’t really go into this with the intent of ‘let’s make a fantasy game.’ Rather, we focused on developing the game we wanted to make and it happened to be a fantasy game.”

Regardless, as someone who has always loved dragons, for Kamiya, making a game like Scalebound is a dream realised. Asked what his favourite dragon is, Kamiya replied, “The dragon that sticks with me the most is definitely the one from Sorcerian. The last boss in the first scenario was a hydra.” Kamiya added with a laugh, “That might have something to do with why there’s a hydra at the end of the trailer, it might not.”

While the developers were unable to reveal specifics about Scalebound‘s gameplay, they did note that dragons would play a vital role in it. As to the relation between player characters and dragons, Kamiya noted that he wanted the dragons to be more than just pets or tools in battle and that the relationship between the player and dragons would be very important.

Platinum Games and Kamiya himself have a history of fast-paced visually intense action games, but for Scalebound, Kamiya noted that the game would not be just a simple action game.

Sadly, the developers could not reveal much in terms of details about the game. As to a release date or window, producer Atsushi Inaba stated, “We’re not at a stage where we can answers what per cent the game is done.” However, he reassured, “Seeing as we’ve announced the title, we want to avoid a situation where we end up making fans wait for years and years.” Looking forward to whatever you’ve got for us.

Scalebound is scheduled for release on the Xbox One.