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Game Overview

brutal_legend_20081217223858Concept

Brutal Legend is an upcoming game being developed by Double Fine, starring Jack Black as main character Eddie Riggs and masterminded by the man behind games such as The Secret of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, and Psychonauts.

Described as an open-world action-adventure game, you take on the role of a roadie named Eddie Riggs who has an accident while preparing for a gig and finds himself transported back through time to the mythological world of metal — a place we’ve previously only been able to glimpse through album covers and lyrics.

Like most Tim Schafer games, the gameplay is based primarily on what works best for the story being told and doesn’t fit neatly into a single genre. However, comparisons can be made to games such as The Legend of Zelda, Fable, Overlord, God of War, and even real-time strategy games.

This gameplay will be bolstered by other consistent Schafer ingredients: a deeply immersive world, an ingenious storyline, characters you’ll never forget, and a sharp wit — things that have often been neglected since the end of the adventure game era.

brutal_legend_20080917021302Story

When it becomes apparent that Eddie has a special connection to the world of metal — in no small part because of the belt buckle he wears that’s “forged from the steel flesh of the fire beast himself” — he quickly finds himself tasked with liberating the people from the almighty Doviculus, as well as his subordinates such as General Lionwhyte and the legions of disgusting creatures they command.

The oppressed denizens of the world will join Eddie’s cause as his journey unfolds, giving him a range of bizarre allies willing to fight alongside him. Check out the Main Characters and Enemies & Minions pages for more information about Brutal Legend’s individual characters and how they fit into the story.

brutal_legend_20090507141450Gameplay

Like most Tim Schafer games, Brutal Legend‘s gameplay is wrapped around whatever suits the story best. It’s described as an action-adventure game set in an open world that spans around 64 square kilometres, and leans on various games in those genres as inspiration for how it plays.

Comparisons can be made to games such as The Legend of Zelda, Fable, Overlord, and God of War, which all feature hack-and-slash gameplay combined with the use of epic power. And like the former two games, the story is flexible and missions can be undertaken in various orders, as well as featuring missions not integral to the central storyline.

brutal_legend_20090430201418Eddie wields an axe — the Seperator — which can be infused with various powers that give it special properties. He also has a guitar calleds Clementine that can be played using certain buttons on the game pad, with devastating consequences such as shifting the earth, raising powerful ancient relics, melting faces, and much more.

In addition to his own abilities, Eddie can command vast armies of minions that all have unique skills of their own. Little is known about what these minions can do or indeed even what they are, but the epic battles — which don’t happen randomly and have real-time strategy principles — will potentially feature around 80 combatants.

To get around the epic world of metal, Eddie can use Clementine to build and extensively customise a hot rod known as the Deuce. While travelling, Eddie can use the Deuce’s radio to listen to metal. The Deuce can also be used during battle, sporting attack mechanisms of its own as well as the intrinsic ability to run enemies down.

brutal_legend_20090403124755Characters

Brutal Legend is a true homage to metal, packed with archetypes and references that will entrance people unfamiliar with the genre while providing fans with countless things to appreciate.

An early group of characters that Eddie will encounter are the headbangers, so-called because of their massively developed neck muscles formed through years of being forced to smash their heads against rocks mining for ancient car parts.

Amongst others joining Eddie are emo-like humans with no sense of hope, amp-carrying roadies, and a shamanistic bass guitar player known as the Kill Master (played by Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister) — a misnomer as it’s said his riffs have magical healing powers. There’s also a complicated love interest with a girl called Ophelia, and two siblings who will play a large part in Eddie’s quest: Lars and Lita Halford.