Welcome to Loot Rascals, the game that's part science fiction action and adventure, but also part card game.
Developer Hollow Ponds announced the title today on the Sony blog.
"Loot Rascals is a tale of friendship, loss and redemption in outer space," the developer wrote. "It's a roguelike set on a hostile alien world, where you'll play as the survivor of a rocket crash, trying to escape back to space."
What makes Loot Rascals so different, though, is that it has two main gameplay features. The first features planet exploration and fighting off the planet's evil monsters and robots. Defeating those creatures earns the player cards used to upgrade abilities. Players must choose which cards to keep, because each card can also convert into a valuable resource for healing.
However, things get tricky with these cards, because enemies have the ability to loot the player and steal them. When they do that, those cards disappear from the player's collection and get beamed into someone else's set. Defeating elite creatures gains one card looted from another player: players choose whether to keep the card or send it back.
Sure, that might seem like an easy decision, but every player in the game also has a Holographic Agent, "a computer-controlled copy of themselves who can visit other people's games." If you get a card from another player and keep it, their angry Hologram might come after you. If you return the card, that happy Hologram might visit you and help you out.
Here's a trailer for Loot Rascals:
Loot Rascals is the brainchild of Ricky Haggett, who founded developer Honeyslug, the studio behind Hohokum, Frobisher Says and Super Exploding Zoo.
"If you're a fan of some of the other games I've worked on, you should be able to detect a similar sensibility, in terms of both humor and art," wrote Haggett. "This time, we're working with Swatpaz (Adventure Time, Cartoon Hangover) and Meowza (The Road Not Taken, Alphabear) on the visuals, along with an amazing soundtrack by Grandmaster Gareth from Misty's Big Adventure (one of my favorite bands!)."
Although gamers will learn more about Loot Rascals at this year's E3, the game won't be released until 2017. In the meantime, check out the official Loot Rascals website.
