The Precursors Preview

PC Gamer's Kieron Gillen has turned his attention toward Deep Shadows' The Precursors long enough to pen a preview for the ambitious sci-fi FPS/RPG hybrid.
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. You're playing a character with similar abilities to White Gold's protagonist, in a completely different world full of different characters, weaponry and vehicles. Rather than cruising around a shanty-town at the edge of a jungle with your trusty 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 cruising 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.