The Light Shines Through
One of the biggest reveals at the Sony Press conference at E3 2014 this year was inFAMOUS: First Light , a standalone expansion DLC for inFAMOUS: Second Son . inFAMOUS: First Light stars Fetch, Delsin’s right hand… woman… with Neon super powers. It will take you to many locales that you haven’t seen before and will show the story of inFAMOUS: Second Son from another point of view.
The trailer shown at the Sony Press Conference was only about a minute long, so details about this expansion are actually rather slim. It opens up showing a snowy landscape and an old abandoned fortress acting as a prison for Conduits, people with super powers. The camera zooms in to show Fetch alone, sitting on a bench, her hands shackled. “I know it’s upsetting… what you’ve been through… it’s unimaginable, but I can’t help you unless you open up.” Fetch is being talked to by some sort of corrections officer, and is being asked to tell her story, to tell her what happened, and this is the whole concept of inFAMOUS: First Light .
The game takes place in the past, with Fetch retelling stories from her past. Fetch has a dark secret and it’s up to you to uncover it by reliving her past tragedies. The game will take you from the streets of Seattle to snowy Curdun Cay as you begin piecing together memories long since hidden away.
The trailer then cuts to an action sequence. Fetch is falling out of a window at one point, and then running at hyper speed at the next. These back and forth camera cuts continue for a while, showing off some interesting pieces of gameplay footage. Included in this footage are showcases of Fetches abilities. She hits all enemies around her with an AOE attack, jump kicks an opponent into a gas station causing it to explode, uses her abilities to slow a fall from a high platform, runs faster that cars can keep up, and more.
The final scene of the trailer is seen through a hazy white light. The camera focuses on a shadowy figure that we could only speculate is Delsin before finally cutting to black. Unfortunately, that’s all the trailer had to show us about the game, but Sony has been forthcoming with a few more details since the trailer went live.
First of all, they have made incredible advances in the graphics engine. The lighting engine, particle effects, and more have all been given an upgrade, and they will be used to a great extent in animating Fetch’s moves. Sony has also said that they have refined their facial motion techniques, in order to express Fetch’s emotions and give her more of a personality.
Another thing that will be integrated into First Light is “photo mode” which came out in a free update a while ago for the main game. It’s basically exactly what you think it is. It allows you to toggle the HUD on and off and change the time of day in the game. This sounds kind of dumb until you realize that the purpose is to take awesome screenshots of your characters. With Fetch constantly trailing Neon behind her, this will be more fun than ever.
Sony also announced that there will be some exclusive content that will be available only to owners of both inFAMOUS: Second Son and inFAMOUS: First Light . Sony hasn’t said exactly what that content is, but hopefully it will bridge the gap between the main game and this standalone.
It’s hard to say whether or not inFAMOUS: First Light is worth a recommendation. Of all the games we saw at E3 2014, First Light had some of the least info divulged. The only thing we can really do is wait and see if it’s worth purchasing, but my gut feeling is that anyone who purchased inFAMOUS: Second Son should probably give it a shot. First Light will be releasing in August through the PlayStation Store and will be playable even by people who don’t own inFAMOUS: Second Son . A final price for the game has not yet been announced.
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