Ninja Theory’s Enslaved Officially Announced

Ninja Theory, developer of Heavenly Sword, is now working on the post-apocalyptic Enslaved.

Namco Bandai has officially announced and released screenshots of Ninja Theory’s Enslaved, a game that appears graphically similar to Heavenly Sword, but with a very different setting. The game takes place more than 150 years from now in a ruined, post-apocalyptic future – but don’t expect visuals in the same vein as Fallout 3: Enslaved‘s future looks very organic and green from what we see in the first screens.

Above is Trip, an AI partner to the game’s main character, Monkey. After both become captured by human traders, Trip realizes that only with Monkey’s help will she be able to see freedom again. She hacks into Monkey’s slave headband to “enslave” him, but this process also makes the link between the two a matter of life and death. If one dies, so does the other.

The relationship between Monkey and Trip is likely the reason why Enslaved is being billed as a “tactical action-adventure” that “challenges players to employ a mix of combat, strategy and environment traversal.” In other words, you’re going to have to make sure both characters survive at all times. The game’s premise sounds intriguing, but we can only hope it doesn’t devolve into what is essentially a long and annoying escort mission.

Monkey’s main weapon will be a staff that he uses for melee attack combos, blocks, counters, and the like. He will also be able to actually rip enemy robots apart with a finishing move, taking their weapons for himself – the above screen appears to be of one of these finishing moves. This ability feels like a nice contrast to the combat that this genre typically employs. Below we see a screen of Monkey just normally fighting with his staff.

Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies and also worked on Heavenly Sword, is returning to work on Enslaved. Composer Nitin Sawhney and writer Alex Garland, who wrote the movie screenplay for 28 Days Later, will be working on the game as well. Enslaved is scheduled for release on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2010.