Have you ever heard of Zeno Clash? You probably have since it’s considered to be one of the indie gaming community’s darlings. It garnered attention thanks to its surreal story and visuals. And thanks to Atlus, Zeno Clash soon will be available via Xbox Live Arcade. Aram Jabbari was kind enough to show us some snippets of Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition.
Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition follows a young man (if he could be called a man) named Ghat. He has been exiled from his family and people because he destroyed their leader: Father-mother. Now an exile, he leaves the city with his girlfriend Deadra. So why did Ghat kill Father-mother? What are his/her secrets? And what happens in the wasteland?
If all this sounds surreal, it is. The game’s narrative jumps around quite a bit. Aram did not hide this fact. It sounds downright intriguing as you really have to work hard to understand it all. This is probably one of those games that you will not understand what’s going on until you’ve finished it.
Graphics looks great thus far. The world feels desolate with lots of sand and few plants in sight. There’s another level that has a horror vibe. In that level, there’s a deep fog and a blocked out sky. You have to kill these strange golem-like creatures with a staff that shoots out light. And if you touch the fog, it drains your health.
In fact, your opponents all look strange. These are not your usual run-of-the-mill fantasy humanoid creatures. There are large herbivore dinosaur lookalikes that tower above you. There’s an elephant-looking creature with multiple trunks and husks and beefy arms — I’m not entirely certain what they are. Another creature can only walk in a straight line. A bounty hunter has a face that looks like a beaten up mask. Deadra, who is also the second “normal” looking character, has horns sticking out of her head. It’s enough to make you wonder if this is all real or if it’s all in Ghat’s head.
But what about the gameplay? According to Aram, Ace Team and Atlus have worked hard to rebalance and tweak the game so it lives up to its namesake. You’ll control Ghat in the first-person perspective with an emphasis on melee. In fact, it looks like Ghat has some strength behind his punches! You can also head-butt and throw an opponent. This makes it sound like it has complex controls. Instead, it employs arcade-like controls. The left trigger zooms in on the action while the right trigger attacks. The A button blocks, and you can dodge by holding the button and moving the control stick to the left or right. So the average player will probably find this an easy game to pick up but a difficult game to master.
There also is the Tower Challenge. It is a battle royale that is five stages thick. As an added bonus, the XBLA version has exclusive multiplayer capabilities with the Tower Challenge. You can attempt these challenges alone or with a friend. If your friend is sitting next to you, it’ll be splitscreen, but nothing is stopping you from inviting a friend to help you out online.
And I’ll need all the help I can get. After watching the demo, I have a better understanding of what’s going on. And at the same time, I feel just as lost. There’s more information to be released as the days get closer to Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition’s release date of March 31. It will cost about 1200 Microsoft Points ($15) and will take up about 1.5 GB of your Xbox 360’s hard drive space. Personally, I think this is one of the coolest and weirdest games ever made. For more information, visit http://www.zenoclash.com/.
