We’ve known about a new entry in the Perfect Dark series since it was first announced back in December at The Game Awards 2020. And although there wasn’t any actual gameplay or even much by way of details regarding what the main story will be, the trailer was definitely enough to get fans of Joanna Dark pumped for this upcoming Xbox-exclusive title.
I’m not personally champing at the bit for this one, but that’s mostly because I wasn’t all that into the Nintendo 64 Perfect Dark, which at the time just felt like a sci-fi GoldenEye clone. That being said, some of the promotional images for this upcoming reboot have a real Control look to them, and considering how much I loved that game, this aspect alone, perhaps by osmosis, is certainly enough to pique my interest.
And then things went dark (eh? eh?).
That is, until a surprise tweet yesterday from The Initiative, developer of the upcoming Perfect Dark, in which it was announced the studio is teaming up with fellow developer Crystal Dynamics (Marvel’s The Avengers) in some capacity to collaborate on this upcoming Perfect Dark title.
This at first seemed like a rather odd pairing, especially considering that Perfect Dark is a Microsoft property and Crystal Dynamics is a subsidiary of Square Enix. But when you consider that Crystal Dynamics was able to successfully reboot another languishing franchise in the form of their 2013 Tomb Raider game and its subsequent sequels (which launched to mostly positive critical and player acclaim), it sort of makes sense.
And then, of course, is the fact that The Initiative was started up by former head of studios at Crystal Dynamics, Darrell Gallagher, who worked on the aforementioned Tomb Raider reboot and that game’s predecessors, Tomb Raider Underworld and before that Tomb Raider Legends.
This all leads me to, I guess, my biggest fear of what this team-up could result in — but dear lord, do I hope this is just an irrational fear. For the love of all things holy, please do not add an endless stream of gruesome death scenes to the new Perfect Dark. I have already talked about this subject previously while delving down a Tomb Raider-inspired rabbit hole of horror. Gratuitous violence has plagued the Tomb Raider series since the 2013 reboot — in my opinion, at least. As much as it has unfortunately become a staple of that series, hopefully it will not be a hallmark of Crystal Dynamic’s contributions to this upcoming Perfect Dark reboot as well.
So please, Crystal Dynamics, don’t do Joanna dirty like ya did Lara.
