We took our freshly finished companion orb for a test drive in the simulation phase of the game! Here's how she(yep) looks:
We also did some testing with the first of the available five abilities of the companion orb that is a pressure field, it'll be used for clearing paths or pushing stuff around in general:
She's not looking nearly as good as the concept we have in mind for her, but we're getting there. Our focus right now is more on getting the gameplay ready rather than making the visuals more shiny!
The Orb Explained :
This companion orb will start following you starting from the end of the prologue as you emerge through the first story phase into the simulation phase.
She'll possess five abilities that you will be obtaining throughout the game at the end of each story phase:
- Pressure field for pushing stuff around
- Possession for possessing the orb and scouting/accessing otherwise impassable areas with her
- Temperature manipulation for increasing or decreasing the temperature of the simulation
- Teleport for teleporting back to a location that you had initially set (your base for instance)
- Preserve for making sure that your precious items are intact when you travel between phases (normally all your items are gone when passing through the phase-gates)
You will not be able to make use of the orb in the story phase in any way - she can interact only with the simulation environment.
She'll have a huge part in the story - to say the least, she's much more than she seems.
She will try to help you as best as she can. If you are hungry for some time, she will try to spawn something for you to eat - this however won't always be in your favor as she may as well spawn a huge metal door in front of you for you to eat.
As the game progresses, her consciousness will be revealed more in subtle ways as she tries to communicate with you through your neural interface - the OmniDrive.
