PlayStation Plus gets a dose of colorful 3D-platforming fun this month in the form of Sackboy: A Big Adventure.
Originally released in 2020 and created by Sumo Digital, the UK-based developer tapped into its previous experiences across platformer and multiplayer genres (LittleBigPlanet 3, Team Sonic Racing) to craft a captivating yarn. Levels are imaginative and reward exploration, and occasionally stray into musically-led stages backed by pop hits. Collectibles are many and worth discovering – offering secret pathways and increasingly dazzling costumes to deck out your character. Co-op (up to four players local or online) is joyful in its continuous tandem of cooperative and competitive.
To mark its launch on PlayStation Plus, we talked about the game’s origins with XDEV Producer Mark O’Connor. O’Connor shares some early concept sketches and gives his insights into how the core gameplay pillars came to be.
A highly interactive 3D world
“The concept for Sackboy: A Big Adventure started way back in 2017. The original pitch was simple (to say the least): Sackboy: A Big Adventure at its heart was to be a brand-new platforming experience set in Sackboy’s familiar home of Craftworld; complete levels, battle bosses and save the world!
“We wanted to reimagine the LittleBigPlanet franchise within a vibrant, (and for the very first time) fully 3D environment, that had that familiar feel of physicality woven into the game’s DNA. Everything is physical, from the gameplay, to the world, through to the UI and beyond. Advanced real-time physical behaviors create a highly interactive 3D world: cloth stretches and tears, sponges squash and absorb, balloons inflate and burst, fluids ebb and flow.
Caption: These early concept sketches show how real world materials influenced the look and feel of the levels and their inhabitants. At the top, a Himalaya-like area built with carved foam and metallic paper, below, an enemy with a cardboard cylinder halo.
“We wanted to make certain that each level had a unique twist ensuring there’s something new and fresh around every corner. All whilst making sure it was responsive, had accessible controls and took advantage of what the PlayStation 5 had to offer.”
Levels tailored for both solo and multiplayer…
“The LittleBigPlanet titles were always designed as games that could be played solo or co-op and this is something that we didn’t want to change for Sackboy: A Big Adventure. It was always important to us that Sackboy’s very first 3D platforming adventure could still be played solo or with family and friends, with every player still being able to create and control their very own Sackperson.
“So, Sackboy: A Big Adventure was built from the ground up as a four-player co-op adventure with fun, physical character interactions that give players loads of ways to cooperate (and target each other). We wanted to encourage players to join forces to push, pull, slap and roll into objects (and each other).
“One great example of this is being able to stack Sackboys and Sackgirls to create a precarious “Sack Totem” and get to hard-to-reach places. These different ways to play make the game truly co-op. Players now have more meaningful interactions and are no longer just running through the same level side-by-side.
During the Necrom Chapter Preview livestream, the Elder Scrolls Online team showcased the upcoming chapter’s (arriving June 20 for PlayStation) new features and gameplay, including the Arcanist class, new group challenges, and a part of Apocrypha never seen before in an Elder Scrolls game.
Master the arcane
When it came to the Arcanist, ESO’s first new class in four years, the team saw an opportunity to integrate it and its mechanics into Necrom’s setting and themes. As a result, the Arcanist draws power from Apocrypha itself, and the team relished the opportunity to combine elements of Hermaeus Mora’s realm into almost every aspect of the way the class looks, feels, and plays.
The Arcanist utilizes three unique Skill Lines, each supporting a different playstyle: Herald of the Tome (damage), Curative Runeforms (healing/support), and Soldier of Apocrypha (tanking). You’re never locked into any one Skill Line, and you can mix your abilities with any others that are already available.
The team also discussed the Arcanist’s all-new mechanic, the Crux System. When in combat, select Arcanist abilities generate a new resource called Crux, while others spend any saved Crux to receive a buff. If you seek to master this new class, you must learn how you utilize both your Crux-generating and spending abilities effectively.
Explore a new aspect of Apocrypha
In the Necrom Chapter, you can explore the realm of Apocrypha, an endless library containing unknown volumes of knowledge. Be warned—many seek to understand Apocrypha’s hidden secrets, but Mora’s realm also contains a terrifying host of dangers for those who come unprepared.
The team also revealed an all-new aspect of Apocrypha not seen in the Elder Scrolls series before now: Chroma Incognito. A roiling landscape of mind-bending color, Chroma Incognito is a world shaped by what never came to pass—a realm of possibility rejected by cruel fate that stands in vivid contrast to the rest of Apocrypha.
This distinct biome was an opportunity for the team to create something brand-new for Elder Scrolls fans while expanding upon the Prince of Knowledge’s domain.
Today we’re happy to reveal the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog for April 2023. All games will be available on Tuesday April 18. Let’s dive in.
PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium | Game Catalog
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Kena: Bridge of Spirits | PS4, PS5
Immerse yourself in a story-driven action-adventure set in a charming world rich with exploration and fast-paced combat. Play as Kena, a young Spirit Guide travelling to an abandoned village in search of the sacred mountain shrine. Find and grow a team of tiny spirits known as the Rot who maintain balance by decomposing dead and rotting elements. Enhance your companions’ abilities, create new ways to manipulate the environment and uncover the secrets of a forgotten community hidden in an overgrown forest where wandering spirits are trapped.