Here are the first details on Enslaved from Namco Bandai Games:

“Developed by Ninja Theory Ltd., Enslaved takes players on a gripping, surprise-filled journey as two dissimilar characters form an uneasy union in order to survive their way through a perilous, post-apocalyptic America. A tactical action-adventure game, Enslaved centers on the complex relationship between the two main characters and challenges players to employ a mix of combat, strategy and environment traversal. With influences and contributions from top music and film industry talent, Enslaved combines beautifully rendered graphics and captivating music with seamless animation and engrossing gameplay. Enslaved is planned for release in 2010.

More than 150 years in the future, the world has transformed into an unrecognizable state where all that remains are a dwindling human population and merciless robots left over from wars long past. In Enslaved, players take on the role of Monkey, a strong and brutish loner, and his AI partner Trip, a technologically savvy but sheltered young woman from a peaceful community. Both become captured by a mysterious slave ship, which are rumored to harvest people and take them out west never to return. As they each attempt to escape, Trip realizes quickly that Monkey, with his raw strength and power, is the only hope she has of making the perilous journey back home. She hacks into a slave headband to enslave Monkey and link them together – if she dies, he dies. Her journey has now become his.

Players must make sure both Monkey and Trip work together as they skillfully navigate through the world and survive against the dangerous enemy obstacles that lie in wait. Monkey will deftly wield his trusty staff weapon to attack and defend against enemies, using a combination of melee attacks, blocks and counters. He will also be able to perform spectacular takedown moves, allowing him to rip an enemy apart piece by piece, take its weapon for his own use or destroy it in one final blow.”

Watch for more details on Enslaved soon, and keep a lookout on namcobandaigames.com.

After doing some research on Journey to the West, the Chinese folktale that Enslaved is said to be loosely based on, I found the first similarity between the two. I am currently reading the book and when I find something worth sharing I’ll post it here. This is what I found:

Another interesting aspect of his (MONKEY) personality is the development of his relationship with Tang San Zang (TRIP). At first, he was extremely grateful to San Zang because he saved him from the Mountain of Five Elements and became his disciple obligingly. But when Wu Kong killed six bandits who meant to kill them and take their belongings, San Zang became very angry and scolded him. Wu Kong gets infuriated when people scold him so he took off, leaving San Zang alone in the wilderness. The Goddess of Mercy gave San Zang a golden band and taught him the Band-Tightening Spell, which would make the golden band shrink. When Wu Kong came back finally, he put on the band, not knowing what it was. San Zang chanted the Band-Tightening Spell, which made the band tighten on his head, causing him terrible pain. San Zang asked him if he would be obedient from then on and Wu Kong replied yes. But actually he was still enraged and tried to kill San Zang with his magic rod, only stopping when San Zang chanted the spell again. Thus, it can be said that Wu Kong was tortured into obedience to San Zang. Um… (sweat) ‘Tortured’ seems too strong a word, maybe ‘forced’ would be better.

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A few days ago, we caught wind of a new game from Heavenly Sword developer Ninja Theory, Enslaved. Unfortunately, the name was all we knew. Now that Game Informer has been stuffed into our mailboxes by careless USPS workers, we have the full story, which we shall now kindly relate to you.

Enslaved takes place decades and decades after the third and fourth world wars have ravaged the world. Players take on the role of Monkey (voiced and mo-capped by Andy Serkis), a man who has lived a solitary life on the run from nihilistic machines — remnants of a forgotten war who continue to carry out their objectives, even though most of the human race is now dead.

Unfortunately, Monkey gets captured and ends up on an airship with a young woman called Trip. The two escape from the airship, but Monkey is knocked unconcious and awakes to find a headband stuck to his face. The band was placed there by Trip who needs Monkey to help her return home, but is aware that he’s misanthropic and solitary. So, she threatens him with a headband that will crush his skull if he doesn’t do as she says. This naturally leads to a very tense relationship between two people who are prepared to kill each other, but need to work together to survive.

The story is written by Alex Garland of 28 Days Later fame, and is very loosely based on the ancient Chinese novel, Journey to the West. Combat will be similar to Heavenly Sword, but there will be a greater focus on tactical play, with Monkey able to use a dragonfly-esque camera to scout out enemies and detect weak points. For example, Monkey can learn that a particular robot’s machine gun attachments are weak, then pull the guns off and use them for himself.

From reading the Game Informer article, I must say I am very eager to learn more about this game. The setting is familiar but unique, and I am sure that Ninja Theory’s commitment to storytelling and movie-quality videogame exposition will make for a great tale. If they can just improve upon Heavenly Sword’s less-than-stellar combat, I am going to be very excited for this new game.

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Someone else has also taken photo’s of the Enslaved feature in Game Informer. This includes some parts you didn’t see on the scans!

High Motion Picture like production values:

1.) “Directed” by Andy Serkis (Gollum!)

2.) A cinematographer was hired to make the “camera work” in the game more conventionally like that of an actual motion picture scene.

3.) Alex Garland (screenwriter for 28 Days Later) worked on the story to flesh it out.

4.) Tools and story telling approach will be similar to the cutscenes from Heavenly Sword with facial expressions and motion capture providing body language cues during dialogue.

5.) The game is loosely thematically based on “Journey to the West”, the Chinese novel about the adventures and taming of the great powerful (and tricky) Monkey King.

Setting:

Principle antagonist is robots who are harvesting huamn survivors and taking them westward on automated airships for some reason. Set in a dark post apocalyptic future where mankind is almost extinct and takes place in the vine covered ruins of New York City with some recognizable land marks.

(more…)

Someone over at the N4G forums has posted scans from the October issue of Game Informer, revealing the first images of Ninja Theory’s new game Enslaved. Check them out below.

1) 150 years in the future. Awesome. Giant mechanical airships in the sky. Main character has a “headband” that will blow up if you don’t follow mysterious chick who walked into your life!

2) Facial expression system from HS being applied to the body this time. Andy Serkis voices main character named “Monkey”, and responsible for CASTING.

3) Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine) doing the dialogue.

4) No co-op, but a second character is involved in the (theoretically) third-person adventure.

5) Game takes place in “dilapidated new york”

6) Action “more strategic than heavenly swords”

7) Composer Nitin Sawhney (The NameSake) is back for “Enslaved” soundtrack

8 ) “Trip”, the other character (responsible for forcing “monkey” into the explosive collar, who controls him to help her get to her village), is “controllable” in the sense that you can issue some basic commands.

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BIG NEWS! Ninja Theory’s new game is called ‘Enslaved‘ and will be a post-apocalyptic journey delivered on multiple platforms. Don’t forget to check out Octobers issue of Game Informer with more info on ‘Enslaved’.

“…In addition to that, we’ve got the first details on Ninja Theory’s new game, Enslaved. The Heavenly Sword developer is going multiplatform in this post-apocalyptic journey, and Game Informer Magazine is the only place you’ll hear about it. All that and much, much more is available in the October issue.”

Scans of the magazine will be posted on this site too.

Get excited! Source 1 and 2.

A frequently overlooked gem, Ninja Theory’s Heavenly Sword nets itself a well-deserved spot in our top ten thanks to the stellar duel against King Bohan (voiced by the utterly brilliant Andy Serkis) at the game’s climax. Accompanied by a sweeping orchestral score, the fight takes place on a sprawling battlefield crammed with dozens of sparing warriors, where flame-haired protagonist Nariko and the Raven King (aka Bohan) duke it out with each other amidst a field of corpses – needless to say, these credentials lend the battle a decidedly epic feel to say the least. Interestingly, the fight is in part evocative of Link’s duel with Phantom Ganon in The Legend of Zelda, requiring you to reflect Bohan’s attacks back at him to stun your enemy, allowing you to get up close and personal to deal out some serious punishment. Given Heavenly Sword’s penchant for QTE’s, it should also come as no surprise that there’s a couple of context sensitive attacks you’re able to pull off providing you’re quick enough. Oh, and did we mention Andy Serkis? Playstation Universe

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60SL5qm4PJE