Perfect Dark Developer Says Eye-Catching 2024 Gameplay Demo 'Had Some Fakery but Quite a Lot of It Was Legit'

A developer who worked connected Microsoft's now-cancelled Perfect Dark reboot has addressed the assertion that past year's gameplay demo was "fake," and said the glimpse was a vertical portion of the task moving "in-engine."

Perfect Dark was 1 of respective projects canned by Microsoft this week arsenic portion of the company's latest devastating cuts to Xbox unit and games. Developed by The Initiative, a workplace Microsoft is present shutting down, alongside Tomb Raider workplace Crystal Dynamics, Perfect Dark had seldom been glimpsed since its archetypal announcement backmost successful 2020.

That each changed past twelvemonth erstwhile a "gameplay reveal" video aired arsenic portion of the Xbox Games Showcase successful June 2024. And it's this video that has since sparked questions implicit however overmuch of what it shows corresponds to actual, moving crippled systems.

Earlier this week, Kotaku writer Ethan Gach posted connected societal media that helium had been told past year's demo had been "basically fake." The question of the gameplay demo's legitimacy was discussed successful much item by erstwhile Perfect Dark developer Adam McDonald, who present works arsenic a elder crippled decorator astatine Cuphead shaper Studio MDHR.

"It is really in-engine," McDonald said. "I was 1 of 3 level designers that worked connected it. It worked champion if you played it the mode the idiosyncratic playing successful the video plays it, but it inactive worked adjacent if you didn't deed the marks perfectly.

"There's immoderate fake worldly successful it," helium continued, "and the existent gameplay systems shown disconnected worked juuust capable to look bully successful this video. We were rapidly making existent plan decisions truthful arsenic to not knowingly prevarication to players astir what the crippled volition be. The parkour is each real, the hacking/deception is mostly real.

"The combat is 'real' successful that idiosyncratic had to truly bash each that worldly successful the video, but it's acceptable up to beryllium played precisely that mode and didn't play good if you played it a antithetic way."

What McDonald is saying then, is that there's nuance here. Like galore vertical slices meant to showcase a task that's inactive successful development, it was made to enactment conscionable enough, and to springiness a consciousness of however the last crippled would person appeared, had the task survived until launch.

McDonald's proposition present seems to beryllium that the squad down it intended to amusement thing that gave arsenic close a consciousness of what Perfect Dark would beryllium arsenic was possible. That said, immoderate elements intelligibly inactive dependable similar they were a work-in-progress, adjacent if they were meant to beryllium representative.

"I'm seeing large contention implicit 'THIS WHOLE THING WAS FAKE' and it's annoying me, truthful I wanted to accidental something," McDonald concluded. Then, successful a reply to different user, McDonald said "it was a beauteous emblematic vertical slice" and "I don't deliberation we were peculiarly deceptive with it."

He added: "It's astir apt much existent than you think. We were figuring worldly retired connected the alert successful clip to see it successful the demo, doing our champion not to 'lie' to players. There's immoderate fakery but rather a batch of it was legit."

After the cancellation of Perfect Dark, Rare's long-awaited Everwild, an MMO from Bethesda's The Older Scrolls Online squad and cuts to different projects, it's believed that each crippled featured astatine the Xbox Games Showcase presumption successful June this twelvemonth volition proceed on. But what astir the others? We've tracked down each large upcoming Xbox crippled we cognize astir to cheque successful connected their status.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social