There seems to be a bit of a gold rush going on in the ‘Little people with swords fight exceptionally huge monsters’ genre, and Bandai Namco are eager to stake their latest claim. Today, they announced God Eater 3, latest in their exceptionally anime franchise about humans battling borderline-deific monsters in a scarred and post-apocalyptic world.
While the roots of the series stretch back as far as the PSP, the above trailer’s graphics imply a current-gen game, scaling down to the Playstation Vita at most. All the God Eater staples seem well represented, from varied Aragami (the god-monsters that you hunt) to incredibly Anime Goth outfits and oversized, transforming weapons. While only a single protagonist is shown, the series is best known for its co-op, either with human players of a customisable party of NPCs
For those unfamiliar with the franchise, the ‘Eater’ part of the title refers to the absurdly large God Arc weapons that the protagonists carry. Supernatural swiss army knives that transform between melee and ranged combat forms, and also into huge, hungry maws capable of ripping chunks of meat off Aragami whether they’re dead or alive. Successful co-op hunts tend to end in a violent feeding frenzy as all players descend on the fallen beast for a quick bite.
While no release date or platforms have been announced yet, it seems exceedingly likely that the game is coming to PC, given that we’re also getting the vampiric Souls-like Code Vein from the same studio, plus last year’s arrival of the original two God Eater titles, remastered on Steam. Bandai Namco have been surprisingly good about releasing their console titles – old or new – on PC these past couple years, and the quality of ports has generally been quite high.
While never a huge fan of the God Eater series, my complaints largely stem from their technological limitations, imposed by their PSP origins. If this is a true next-generation reboot in the vein of Monster Hunter: World, I can’t wait to give this one a stab. I must admit, I am a bit of a sucker for overblown anime goth stylings.
