One of the cooler elements of inFamous newcomer Delsin Rowe's powers in Second Son is that they are in no way limited to the smoke and brimstone. While Cole was content to give enemies a good jolt, Delsin is actually able to absorb the powers of other conduits and use them himself.
Yesterday, Second Son Senior Game Designer Darren Bridges played host to a Q&A session on Facebook, where he revealed how Delsin's powers were developed.
"It was a long process of creation, testing, and revision," Bridges said. "We wanted each power set to feel unique, and we wanted to give a sense of progression as well as you play through the game. We started working on them from the very beginning of development two and a half years ago, and continued all the way to the end!"
While control over smoke seems to be his go-to power, we also know that Delsin will be capable of shooting neon stream lasers, durability, healing, limited telepathy, and there's even rumors of a possible power involving paper. Bizarre, but that's just how things went at Sucker Punch, and suggesting odd conduit abilities was just one of the many things that Bridges enjoyed.
"One of my favorite parts of the development was getting to work with the awesome FX artists at Sucker Punch," he recalled. "I'd come in with an idea for a power, they'd say 'hmm, that's impossible'. Then like an hour later I'd come back and they'd say 'ok I did it.'"
As cool as it is to offer a character that players can cherry pick the powers for, Sucker Punch ran the risk of making Delsin too powerful, and the game too easy as a result. "That's always the balance we're striving for- it's easy to make powers that are OP, but it's difficult to make powers that FEEL awesome but also facilitate a good challenge," said Bridges explaining the dilemma.
Players will have to wait just a little longer to see whether or not Sucker Punch pulled off just such a balance.
Meanwhile, some players already know if Sucker Punch succeeded, managing to get a hold of the game a few days ago. But in an effort to keep spoilers at bay, Twitch is cracking down on the lucky gamers. The company made the following statement on Twitter, warning players not to broadcast any footage of the game until the release date:
"UPDATE: inFAMOUS Second Son is under embargo until March 21. You risk a DMCA suspension if you broadcast the game before this date."
It's an admirable move on Twitch's part, but it hasn't stopped gamers from using other means to share various plot elements from the game.
Finally, GameStop has announced that they'll be joining in on the PlayStation Network's midnight launch with one of their own. For those choosing to brave the cold in the wee hours of Friday morning, GameStop is rewarding pre-order customers with the Limited Edition of Cole's Legacy DLC, as well as 500 Sony Rewards points.
A press release said that various stores would also have free food, tournaments, live music, and giveaways to celebrate the game's release, but the release didn't specify which GameStops would be taking part in the event.
inFamous: Second Son releases exclusively for the PlayStation 4 this Friday, March 21.
