Summary
Gigantic: Rampage Editionis a revitalization of the original MOBA shooter that, although beloved by its still-devoted fans, suffered from an unfortunately brief runtime. Abstraction Games has since taken up the game’s mantle alongside Gearbox Publishing to reintroduce the game as a complete, premium package rather than a free-to-playMOBA shooterwith a microtransaction model. Now, it’s coming with some entirely new content alongside a wealth of quality-of-life improvements.
Shipping withGigantic: Rampage Editionis two all-new maps, a new Rush mode, and two unique additions to the game’s stacked roster, and Game Rant chatted with design lead Bart Vossen about how the team built upon previous developer Motiga’s unfinished work to deliver content that never quite made it into the original release.
Gigantic: Rampage Edition’s New Maps Were Based On Unfinished Designs
WithGigantic’s sudden closureback in 2018, Motiga never quite got the chance to finish some of the post-launch content that the studio had in store. The vibrant and highly-vertical Picaro Bay that is arriving withRampage Editionwas just a barebones blockout by the time Abstraction took the reins, but the general idea of a multi-layered pirate-themed map was enough for them to flesh out the idea. This ultimately led to the creation of a new map that stands out spectacularly among the rest of the game’s locales.
The starting point for both of these maps is that Motiga did some of the original development, and they were in various stages of completion. Of course, we first looked at what the vision was that Motiga had in mind with this map. For example, Picaro Bay was just a rough blockout that focused on having two to three layers: the street layer and the rooftop layer.
For Heaven’s Ward, the map was a little bit further along, so then we looked at how we could build from this rough layout and develop onto the map there. We also had the original lore from Motiga in terms of who House Tesserus is and all that already exists from Motiga, so we looked more at opportunities to build on to that and to give the map its own unique aesthetic.
Similarly, industrial,cyberpunk-like mapHeaven’s Ward was also unfinished, though not in quite the shape that Picaro Bay was in. With a stronger foundation at the start of developing this map, Abstraction focused on refining the ideas that were already in place while working with the art team to deliver an aesthetic that contrasts nicely with many of the game’s brighter, more fantasy-oriented settings.
Gigantic: Rampage Edition’s New Characters Work Great With The New Maps
The two new characters were in a similar boat. The bounty hunter Roland andstealthy assassinKajir were long speculated about thanks to datamining and investigation from eagle-eyedGiganticfans, but they never managed to be implemented in the original game.
Roland and Kajir were already in various stages of development from Motiga, so we really looked at the characters in-depth to try and see what Motiga’s original vision was for the characters. From there, we looked at what fits the fantasy of their playstyle.
Abstraction had to analyze both characters' work-in-progress kits to determine their intended roles and playstyles, as well as how to get them to fit meaningfully alongside the rest of the roster.
Roland is a bounty hunter with a mechanical arm, so we focused his skills on giving you the experience of getting in close and attacking with the shotgun, while the bolas also allow you to stalk your prey, slow them down, or set traps for them. You’ve got the grappling hook which allows you to chase your prey or gives you an extra level of mobility.
With Kajir, we really focused on making him a very strong burst assassin that has brief moments where he’s strong, but between those moments, he’s lacking in some damage output. Given the pirate background that he has, we gave him a skeleton crew to work with to create moments of distraction to use as an escape or sometimes for offense.
Interestingly, Roland and Kajir are strong choices for both of the new maps. Roland’s rangedbounty hunter playstyleis an ideal choice for Picaro Bay with its rooftops perched over open courtyards, while Kajir’s stealthy ambush toolkit is diabolical in the cramped and interconnected streets and alleyways of Heaven’s Ward. It’s clear that Abstraction Games took pains to introduce this new content seamlessly, and both longtime veterans and newcomers toGigantichave plenty to look forward to as the game’s release date approaches.
Gigantic: Rampage Editionlaunches April 9 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One.
