One of the big reasons to go back and re-play the inFamous games was to see how the gameplay and story would be affecting by making different choices than you had your first time around. The game was known for having a sort of morality system, and would shape both your powers and public perception of protagonist Cole based on whether you were a messianic hero, there to save the day, or a soulless bastard, out only for yourself. Developer Sucker Punch is keeping this sort of system active for the next game in the series, Second Son, and told OPM all about it.
Second Son protagonist Delsin Rowe may be a brand new character, but the system should help infamous fans feel comfortable in his shoes. Nate Fox, Second Son's Creative Director, explained that like Cole, Delsin will begin right in the middle. From there, players decide what kind of a person he'll become.
"Second Son is Delsin's origin story," said Fox. "Because our game lets you choose if you want to be good or evil, you get to decide how he grows as a person and how the people around him are changed by his choices."
Most of Cole's moral decisions were usually big events, and weren't too numerous. Delsin's choices, by comparison, are said to consist of far more smaller events.
Fox continued, "When he gets powers, he becomes suddenly very high profile. People are horrified by him. He's a bioterrorist, he's out in the city where everybody wants to put him in a cage. But that means that his every action is noticed by people in the city, and even the world."
We saw this to a limited extent in the first two Infamous games, but Empire City and New Marais were for the most part devestated cities. Second Son's Seattle is completely under the thumb of a police force called the DUP, charged with looking for and locking up people like Rowe. As such, there's far more surveillance in the environment, making that many people that much more aware of Delsin.
For example, Fox explained, "Somebody might try to surrender to you in the middle of a fight and put their arms up. You could violently execute them or take them down alive. Do you know how hard it is to take down everyone alive? And when you do it, you feel like a superhero because you actually did the work."
"Choosing to be a good guy or a bad guy, that's the simple choice. The harder thing to do is, are you capable of walking the walk? And that's where the game comes alive in terms of karma in my mind".
A PlayStation 4 exclusive, inFamous: Second Son is out this February, with a PS4 game bundle expected at the same time.
