The Precursors Preview

PC Gamer's Kieron Gillen has taken a closer look at Deep Shadows' upcoming sci-fi FPS/RPG hybrid, The Precursors.
It's a hyper-developed first-person shooter, with a light roleplaying element stuck on - like Deus Ex. As you gain a level, you pick up quirks which boost your skills in a given area. For example, your pistols or rifles do more damage. There's a mass of more unusual abilities, such as being able to bluff it out if you're spotted by a guard or hold your alcohol better. And if you read last month's White Gold preview, you'll recognise the system.

You're playing a character with similar abilities, in a completely different world full of different characters, weaponry and vehicles. Rather than swanning around a shanty-town at the edge of a jungle with your trust AK-47, getting a mission from a local boatman before driving off to solve his problem in your old Cuban-style motorcar, you'll be swanning around a spaceport on a desert world with your trusty biological weapon which demands to be fed live things to continue to fire, getting a mission from a local cybernetic scientist before stomping off in your enormous mechanical exoskeleton. Well, actually, enormous-robo-machines are rare, but you do get hoverbikes and Halo-esque buggies.