Scalebound is one of Microsoft's most anticipated Xbox One exclusives, but it won't be coming until next year. For that reason, exact details on many of the game's systems are still a mystery. Players know there are dragons, their human partners, four-player co-op and massive boss creatures to defeat.
One mystery that is now having some light shed on it is how the game's dragon customization system works. In a new blog post from Xbox, Platinum Games creative producer Jean Pierre Kellams goes into detail on all the ways players will be able to craft a dragon to their liking.
It all revolves around a system called "Dragon DNA," and it's one that's broken into three pieces: morphing, parts and armor.
Morphing allows players to blend the physical and visual attributes of the game's three different dragon types — Rex, Tank and Wyvern — into a unique beast. This is done by using special gems at dragon shrines within the game.
Dragon parts are permanent buffs that can be added to a dragon to boost certain characteristics or change a dragon's visual appearance. Parts look like organic and natural extensions of the dragon's existing body.
Armor, on the other hand, is inorganic. Armor is crafted by human hands and can be placed on your dragon for defensive boosts. Players will earn money by defeating enemies and completing quests in the game, and that money can then be used to purchase armor. However, armor can break after prolonged use, so players will need to regularly maintain it.
Platinum Games is also revealing the ability for players to take full control of their dragon (named Thuban) via the "Dragon Link" ability. This renders the game's human playable character, Drew, defenseless, but gives players more opportunities in combat. The ability can be used so that the dragon can exploit enemy weaknesses and open up opportunities for the human player character.
"This collaboration with Thuban translates into the stylish-action that so many fans of PlatinumGames have come to know and love," Kellam writes in the blog post. "High-level play really opens up when you take control of Thuban and use him to complement Drew; however, when Drew is using Dragon Link, he is defenseless, so you have to be really smart about where and when you use this critical technique. It also creates a fun metagame in multiplayer where you cover each other as you use your different dragon's unique abilities in Dragon Link."
Those are a ton of new details about the anticipated action game, but unfortunately, fans will still have to wait awhile to play the game for themselves. Scalebound is set to release sometime in 2017.
