Staff – December 4, 2018 at 8:38 AM
Originally released as an Xbox One exclusive in 2014, Sunset Overdrive made its effervescent, explosion-heavy debut on PCs this past November. If you haven’t heard of it, Sunset Overdrive is a third-person shooter set in the colorful, open-world, apocalyptic playground of Sunset City.
What truly makes the game special, however, is its emphasis on movement and traversal. It’s a game that asks you to adopt the mantra of a shark; keep moving or you’ll die.
From its outset, Sunset Overdrive poised itself as a game unlike any other. Even its E3 trailer mocked the somber overtones and predictable features of typical shooter games. It promised to break the mold, providing a much more exuberant experience than any of the other shooters on the market.
And it delivered. Its secret? Placing an equal amount of importance on the way players get around Sunset City as it does on blowing its enemies — the “OD,” people who have been mutated by an energy drink — to smithereens. This means grindrails, ziplines, and bouncy surfaces like umbrellas or awnings for catching air.
Insomniac, the studio behind the game, wanted players to feel like every single element of their surroundings could be exploited for traversal. To achieve this, they didn’t just rely on environmental design, but on their AI enemies as well.
“We wanted you to feel like the ground is lava!” explained Game Director Ryan Smith. “To do that, the OD enemies swarm the player and use custom group decision-making to surround the player, pushing them onto nearby traversal objects like bouncy umbrellas or a rail grind.”
Not only that, but the OD actually learn from the player’s behavior, and use their learnings to adjust their own attack patterns. “We let enemies track which traversal objects the player has been using, and then predict which traversal objects the player is likely to use next,” Smith said. This incentivizes the player to search for more traversal opportunities so as to thwart their OD opponents. It’s an ingenious way of ensuring that both the player and the flow of combat alike retain their all-important momentum.
In addition, Insomniac adorned Sunset City with visual cues to get players moving. “We used color accents to highlight grindrails, ziplines, and bouncy umbrellas and cars so they could be easily seen while traveling at high speeds,” explained Art Director Jacinda Chew. “Traversal flow and the ability to travel on all surfaces is a key component of the gameplay and Sunset City’s design.”
Overall, Chew explained that Insomniac wanted Sunset City’s visual aesthetic to convey a “feeling of freedom and exuberance.” Though the city’s buildings were designed with ‘50s Brutalist architecture in mind, Sunset City’s skyline is splattered by what Chew describes as “anarchic color choices.”
“It looks like paint splashed over every surface as if the painters couldn’t be bothered to stick to one color or paint within the lines,” Chew said. “Even the clouds look painted into the sky.”
The result is a thoroughly engaging world that begs to be explored. Now that Sunset Overdrive is on PC, Insomniac is excited for a whole, new playerbase to come to the game.
“We all are eternally grateful to our Sunset Overdrive fans who buoyed us with their excitement during production of the original game,” Insomniac Founder and CEO Ted Price said. “Moreover, thank you to those who expressed their strong desire for a PC version.”
Sunset Overdrive is currently available for PC.
