The charmingly named WarDevil: Unleash the Beast Within – yep, don’t be expecting sunshine and lollipops in Digi-Guys’ inaugural title – has had its details very coyly guarded following its 2004 technical teaser clip. For years the game’s official website featured little but a static image of its protagonist, until recently when glorious screenshots began to emerge from its dreary netherworld.

What we do know is that the game will be a 3rd-person hack-and-slash adventure set in the distant, post-apocalyptic future – lovely! Hit the jump to find out more!

We’ve seen the distant future and it ain’t pretty. Armageddon has devastated the planet, which is overrun by demonic, cybernetic creatures, and there’s only one thing that can stop them: WarDevil. This is where you come in, as you take control of the mysterious, angst-fuelled antihero, battling your way through ruined wastelands, military bases, desert strongholds and other desolate post-world locales.

From what little we’ve seen of the title, the gameplay looks similar to that of other modern hack-and-slash games, like Ninja Gaiden, God of War or Devil May Cry. What sets it apart, however, will apparently be its spectacular visuals, the likes of which have never been seen outside of mega-budget movies. This is because Digi-Guys was previously a dedicated CGI development company, before they decided to branch out into our beloved media. Hey, if game developers can make successful CGI movies, why can’t it work the other way around?

In fact, three quarters of Digi-Guys’ 75 staff are CG artists, so we can expect graphics so crisp and solid you could take a bite out of them. But with little experience in gaming, will it all amount to superfluous prettiness; a pseudo video game caked in CGI make-up? I suppose we’ll have to wait to see whether or not all of the gorgeousness can be glued together with a solid story, level design, physics and AI.

Since 2004, Digi-Guys has drip fed us with morsel-sized teaser clips, each one more detailed and fluid than the last. And there’s no denying it certainly does look impressive: craggy, post-apocalyptic ruins are made physical with incredible texture, as sunlight pours in through gaps, drenching the porous rocks in dynamic light, which bounces off stone, smoky particles and the tarnished metal of cybernetic beasts with impressive realism.

What’s more impressive is that the whole thing runs on a tailor-made and incredibly sophisticated game engine, the RTE1080 (Real Time Engine), which is designed to run WarDevil in full 1080p at 60 frames per second (and, amazingly, it can be adapted to run on an old Xbox!). The head honcho at Digi-Guys, Andy Whitehurst, claims that this will create a game with “Hollywood-grade visuals”. It will be interesting to see how these “Hollywood grade” CGI effects will translate into video game format, such as in its incorporation of motion blurring, believable smoke, water, fire and hair, and the level of clarity we see in minutely detailed textures.

Apparently, the level of detail will be such that if you keep zooming in on an object, instead of the usual pixelated mess, you will be able to see skin’s porous blemishes, the intricate weave of fibrous cloth, or hairline cracks in rock and armour in all their glory. At this stage, much of the game’s technical impressiveness is but jargon, but one thing’s for sure: it will be brimming with more pixels than ever before, each one apparently having individual properties that react to things like dynamic lighting. Sounds delicious!

Previously thought to be a PS3 exclusive, the game will also see the smog-filled light of post-world day on the 360. As of yet, there is no confirmed release date, but the game is being developed alongside its full-length feature film counterpart, so we can expect a joint release. I can’t wait to see what pixelated hocus pocus the wizards at Digi-Guys manage to pull out of the hat!

Source: Edge