Road to E3: Infinity Blade Dungeons

In just over a week, E3 2012 will be upon us. When June 4 arrives, and the press conferences begin, you can expect IGN to be there in full force, kicking ass and taking names. But what are the games you need to pay attention to? What do we expect to blow our minds at the biggest gaming event of the year? Each day we're going to dissect one of these potential blockbusters, discussing what we know and what we expect we'll see at E3.

INFINITY BLADE: DUNGEONS

• Developer | Epic Games


• Publisher | Epic Games


• Release Date | TBA 2012


• Genre | Action RPG

Infinity Blade: Dungeons takes the franchise’s trademark fast-paced touch-controlled battles and presents them in a brand-new way. Instead of engaging in fervid first-person combat, the action plays out from an overhead perspective ala Diablo III or other dungeon crawlers. Players will explore the hand-crafted dungeons, laying waste to giant spiders, armored bears and other enemies, all while collecting gobs of loot.

A small team of Gears of War veterans are responsible for Dungeons instead of Infinity Blade's original creator Chair. The game adheres closely to some dungeon crawler tropes, but clearly isn’t afraid of slaying some of the genre’s sacred cows. Most notably, new weapons will never be found. Instead they must be crafted via a skill-based forging minigame. Players also don’t have a skill bar at their disposal. Instead all skills are activated via smart touch-screen gestures like making a quick circle around your character, or holding your finger over an enemy.

Infinity Blade lore-heads should be sure to read our hands-on impressions for details on Dungeons' story implications.

Epic is cagey about just how far along Infinity Blade: Dungeons is, stating only that the game would be out “sometime in 2012.” If the title is due out sooner, E3 would be a perfect time to allow the industry to go hands-on with a lengthier, near-final demo. But if the game isn't due out until Q3 or Q4, Epic could just have the previous preview demo on-hand, giving gamers a short taste of the game’s gestural combat and weapon crafting.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/29/road-to-e3-infinity-blade-dungeons