Overnight, Chinese mobile and MMO publisher NetEase lifted the lid on its next generation of AAA projects. There’s a new Harry Potter game to look forward to, something that looks suspiciously close to Cyberpunk 2077, and a new Nordic RPG.
Let’s start with Thesus this morning – although it’s only called Code: T in the video description. It’s NetEase’s cyberpunk title that’s set in the year 2063, where players will become bounty hunters while battling police, shadowy villains, and mega corporations.
All the usual cyberpunk stuff, then. The cinematic trailer doesn’t really reveal what kind of game it is mechanically. It could be a first-person shooter in the vein of Cyberpunk 2077, or something else entirely. But judging by the video, it’s not hard to see where the inspiration was taken from.
Interestingly, the company also unveiled a new Harry Potter game. Titled Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, it’s not that awesome third-person RPG we saw a couple of years ago. This one is very stylised, and features Quidditch, the Yule Ball, exploring in the Forbidden Forest, lessons, the Sorting Hat, and what looks like major highlights from the books/movies.
It looks pretty good, even though the video is on Facebook and running at 30fps. Interestingly, Netease decided to intersperse the entire trailer with video from a real-life orchestra playing the Harry Potter soundtrack. The trailer has English voiceovers already, and some English text in it, so it’ll presumably be sold in the West. This one’s a mobile game as well, according to the official release.
The other game that caught my eye from NetEase’s product briefing was a cinematic for The Ragnarok. So far, it looks like Assassin’s Creed meets NetEase’s brand of open-world action gameplay. There’s a lot of climbing and dashing, and one character has a particularly sweeet animation for a counter.
No idea on what the gameplay actually involves, mind you. It’s also being released as AAA iOS/Android game, as well as PC and consoles.
There’s no word on an official release date for any of the games, but I’ll chase up NetEase for more details. The Harry Potter game looks particularly interesting, but then, we’ve all been waiting for a decent Harry Potter RPG. Maybe 2020 is finally the year?
Update 4:35pm: NetEase has confirmed with Australia that Code T, the cyberpunk game, will be “published on mobile”. Ragnarok is the only title which will be launching on PC, mobile and consoles at this stage, while Harry Potter: Magic Awakened will go into a beta test on mobiles in China on May 29.
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