Skydance Interactive’s Archangel: Hellfire is not only an opportunity to bring your childhood dreams of battling giant robots in your own giant robot, but it’s also a success story, a positive example of what can happen when developers listen to players’ concerns.
When Archangel released in July of last year as a single-player VR shooter on rails, players saw potential in the title but were disappointed with some of its limitations. “They said, ‘You know, the story's great, but we want something more out of the gameplay. We want it to be off rails. We want it to be multiplayer’", said Guy Costantini, Vice President of Global Interactive Marketing for Skydance. “Everybody at the studio collectively looked at each other and said, ‘Let's see what we can do.’”
The result is Hellfire, an update that presents a completely reworked and revitalized version of Archangel that achieves exactly what players originally requested. Not only did the developers at Skydance take the game off rails, but they added a 2v2 PVP mode that allows players to select between three different classes of mechs—larger, “tank”-like mechs; smaller, stealthier mechs; and medium mechs that sit in the middle of the previous classes—and battle each other.
The Hellfire update proves that it can really pay for developers to listen to their audience. As a VR game, Archangel: Hellfire promises to be a wish-fulfilling experience for all who have ever fantasized about being in control of a mech. “There's a lot of power management that happens inside the mech, so you feel like you’re embodying this enormous war machine,” Costantini said. “VR allows you to feel like you’re right inside that cockpit, controlling everything.”
