Key Takeaways from the Preview: This is not a direct version of the anime, but it follows the same general story. The designers also try to include something in combat for more advanced/experienced players. The moments between big battles are some of my favorites so far. I have to confess something before I start this preview: I retired early from Attack on Titan. Actually, after the first season. I didn’t think it was terrible or anything. I was there for the human drama. Little people who move like Spider-Man and deal with their trauma while playing David and Goliath against big, scary titans. But when those little guys started becoming Titans, well… it just wasn’t for me. But after spending some time with Attack on Titan 3 and speaking with producer Hideo Suzuki, I’m tempted to give it another chance… at least as a video game. Attack on Titan 3 may have a number, but it’s not a direct sequel in the true sense of the word. It’s more of a recount. Part of that, Suzuki told me, was because it’s been seven years since Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle. “Right after the previous game, we had already started talking about the sequel, but at that time the anime series was still ongoing. So we asked ourselves, ‘What kind of concept should it have?'” [the next one] be?’ And we thought about covering only the new parts of the anime series, but as a game or as a single product, we didn’t think it would be enough. So we thought, ‘Okay, a series is coming to an end, so why don’t we cover the story from beginning to end and just follow that story line?'” But Attack on Titan 3 isn’t just a straight retelling. You’ll don your ODM gear as an original character, but your backstory is interesting. After your squad is wiped out in your first mission as a squad leader, your character (I named mine John Titan, not knowing that he could later choose his gender) is too traumatized (and afraid to fight titans) to continue. But since they are also a great engineer and a generational talent with ODM equipment, they are kept to fix things and train new recruits; the games rarely ask you to play deeply traumatized people who are so mentally broken that they have to move away from what they were great at. decision was intentional. “The reason we had that kind of story at the beginning is that we needed to establish that the Titans are enemies of humans. So the character goes into battle, experiences loss and trauma, and then comes back with a stronger determination to fight the Titans from that point on. This time, the character is set up as older than Eren and other characters. And I mean, even if he’s an older or more veteran soldier, if he’s that strong from the beginning, there won’t be much of a story to tell. So we have to have some story.” It’s kind of a setback at the beginning for him and it’s that incident at the beginning. And then he’s going to play the role of mentor to Eren and others, but then they’ll work together and then they’ll recover from the trauma and grow afterward. My job, along with another tough instructor named Keith, is to turn these kids into real soldiers. But first we have to break them. You have to prepare the clay before you can shape it. But these recruits aren’t just blank slates. Like the show (and manga) it’s based on, Attack on Titan’s characters are their own people, sometimes to a fault. As soon as the initiation ceremony is over, Eren Jaeger bombards me with questions about why there aren’t more exploration missions and why we don’t retake the walls, and I’m forced to watch my character relive his own shame. It’s a good time, but I also have to meet these kids. Attack on Titan is probably most famous for its high-flying battles between humans and titans or its knock-down and drag-out fights between titans, but it’s a human story at heart, and building relationships with the other characters is a central part of Attack on Titan 3. “There are many ways the player can build a friendship with anime characters, and one of them is to give them gifts,” Suzuki tells me later. “The second is to eat together in a dining room, and you can also invite those characters to your room and have conversations. So by pleasing the other characters, you can establish a good relationship, a better friendship, and that will affect the combat… These comrades that you build friendships with, you can invite them or take them on outside missions or outside explorers. And outside the wall, of course, you have battles against Titans and the player and those characters can work together to carry out special missions. We call these skills Buddy Arts… So, how much “The better relationship you have with these other characters… the better your outside missions or explorers will be.” First, though, I have to get them into fighting shape, and that means learning how to use the ODM equipment. Grabbing onto rocks and trees before launching yourself to the next spot is a blast and feels like you have a lot of control over every aspect of the movement. There are several features that are new to the series, such as the ability to anchor to buildings or trees, precisely control your altitude, or even slide under arches. When I asked about the ODM team’s redesign, Suzuki told me that they wanted to make sure to keep pace with the evolution of gaming since Attack on Titan 2, but also offer something for more advanced players. “I think in the previous game, it was pretty playable for people who aren’t advanced players, but in this one we wanted those advanced players to play better, fight better, and have a greater sense of accomplishment when they defeated the Titans. Screenshots from Attack on Titan 3. “But improving the ODM wasn’t enough,” Suzuki told me. The Titans have to improve it because the team at Omega Force wanted those fights to feel appropriately meaningful and epic. “In the previous game, the range of [ODM] The control you had was quite limited and at the same time it was simpler and easier for all players in general. And in this one, the base is still simple… but this time you had more control over many of the actions you take and then you can actually limit your tactics accordingly… but that wasn’t enough. If ODM only improves, then the Titans won’t be as threatening to players. So we also had to evolve the Titans. So their systems, for example, their algorithm and battle patterns, we definitely improved them as well. And that is why they continue to threaten the titans and are great obstacles. [for] humans.” I finally get my first chance at one after jumping to a later point in the story. I have to go through some human enemies, but they’re not too terrible, and it helps me get a feel for actual combat before facing off against a Titan: the Warhammer Titan, to be exact, and it’s a bear fight. Unlike the Titan I fought earlier in the game’s tutorial, I can’t directly damage it. Instead, I have to wear it down by filling its break gauge before I can enter. To kill efficiently means dodging and parrying attacks while it licks me, but it’s more of a battle of patience than anything else. I’m like a mosquito fighting an elephant at once, and it will take them much less effort to squish me than it does to deal significant damage. Fortunately, I only have the tools to handle them, without them. The best ones though are the Buddy Arts, which are very eye-catching every time I do them. Even with them though, the fight is a matter of stamina, but in the end I’m not bad memorable, but what stuck with me after my demo ended was all the time I spent out of combat with the other characters in this world. out of combat with the other characters of this world. It makes the fights against the Titans harder than they would be if they happened all the time. “That was very intentional,” Suzuki told me when I asked him about it. “This IP may be all battles. I mean, no one is going to complain about that, but because the anime characters are so attractive, they have a lot of depth. So showing their daily life will probably make fans happy… Also in the manga and anime, there are a lot of comedic moments and events. So there are [a] type of tension and release relationship. I think that makes the game more fun.” Suzuki told me that he hopes the introduction of a new character will help old fans see the story in a different way and introduce new players to Attack on Titan, but Attack on Titan 3 doesn’t just recreate the anime. There’s also a lot of new things for them to discover. “We also have original content, so we have a lot of substories and events. And we don’t really say this out loud in interviews and stuff, but… we actually put a lot of these sub-stories and events into this particular title and we work very closely with Kodansha, the intellectual property holder. And that’s why I want players to enjoy every detail of it.” Suzuki also dropped one more detail that fans are looking forward to as we conclude: “We have already announced that the anime’s opening sequence will be produced by Mappa. They are the creators of the anime. And I haven’t said this anywhere yet, but I watched the in-progress version of the opening movie and the quality is just phenomenal. So I really want players to look forward to it.” Based on my time with Attack on Titan 3 it’s juggling a lot of plates, and its ambition to do something new with the franchise is pretty laudable. Will it turn me into an Attack on Titan guy? Who knows? But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious to put on my ODM gear once again and help my character complete his quest for redemption. You can’t hide from the worst moments of your life, but you can choose how you deal with them and who you face them with. Either way, you need to learn to live with them and fight your demons (and titans) head-on. While you’re here, check out these recent trailers for other great upcoming games we’ve seen recently. Will Borger is an IGN freelancer.
