During our time at E3, I was lucky enough to sit down with publisher Modus and get both hands on and off previews of various games they and their cadre of publishers have in the works, some of which are planning to launch this year.
One of the games I was lucky enough to get a preview of was Zelda-esque Ary and the Secret of Seasons. Developed by eXiim, Ary is shaping up to be a very bright and colorful adventure game.
While the preview was hands off at this time, eXiim showed off a late game boss battle that utilized several of the different seasonal abilities that Ary would gain throughout the game and some of the mechanics players can come to expect and utilize.
The first thing that struck me about the demo was the care and detail that was put in to the fight. Standing before a giant, stone looking bird on a green island that should have been covered in snow, the game just looked bright and colorful.
As the demo played on, the player moved forward to the bird and used a sling weapon to attach an orb of winter on the sphere attached to the boss. As the stone bird fly higher, a tower of ice and snow began to form, allowing Ary to follow the boss to the top.
Eventually, Ary was able to jump on the sphere and was taken to a mountain path. As the boss flew along the path, the orb of winter, causing ice structures to appear, but also caused ice platforms to materialize along the path, allowing Ary to continue to follow the boss.
One you reached the Boss’ arena, the true flight took place. Very much living up to the game it pays homage to, the fight looked to be a lot of fun, with Ary utilizing several different attack options as well as using the different seasons at her disposal to block and weaken the boss.
Beyond just the combat and the different abilities on show here, what really struck me was how the boss and graphics reacted in real time to what Ary did.
For instance, at one point the person showing the demo used the power of winter against the boss. As the stone bird flew through the sphere of winter, you could see ice and show begin to appear on it immediately as it entered and then immediately disappear as it left.
It didn’t matter which angle the boss entered from, or what part of the body was in the sphere, everything reacted in real time to what you had placed on the grown.
Of course we were eventually able to defeat the boss and recover the power of summer, reverting the area to how it should have been originally, covered in ice and snow. If Ary used the power of summer here, the snow would melt and water would appear.
The developer playing the game told me that this mechanic, using the different seasons in different areas to affect different areas of the stage, would be a major point of exploration and discovery within the game.
Ary is currently under development by Modus Games and eXiim. The game is slated for a release sometime this year on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.
