Home / Capcom Unveils Deep Down for the PS4

Capcom Unveils Deep Down for the PS4

Along with detailed information about the PS4's features and controller, Sony introduced several games, both from itself and from several outside publishers, to be released on the next generation console either this year or next. One of these publishers, Capcom, known for high profile series such as Mega Man, Street Fighter and Resident Evil, revealed not only a new engine for the PS4 but an interesting look at a game only unveiled by its working title.

Thanks to a revolutionary new engine Capcom has designed specifically for the PlayStation 4, the company is fully ready to commit to next generation gaming: the engine known as Panta Rhei. Capcom describes the Panta Rhei engine as the “next evolutionary step from the MT Framework engine,” which Capcom fans will recognize as the engine powering such hit titles as Resident Evil 6 and Street Fighter 4.

Panta Rhei has been designed from the ground up to be fully compataible with the PlayStation 4, allowing Capcom developers to make games much easier than the PlayStation 3, which held a reputation for being unwieldy and hard to develop for.

Other than showing off some screenshots of the engine at work, Capcom kept tight-lipped about what exactly the engine could do and the power behind the engine. Rather than rattle off a number of statistics and programming language, most of which would have likely flown over the head of the journalists in attendance, Capcom felt the best course of action was to showcase their engine in action. To do this, the company unveiled a game known only as “Deep Down,” a working title.

The video, totaling two minutes in total, gave us a look at what this IP might focus on.

The video starts with a knight hiding behind a stone wall as flames envelop either side of the column. The knight is wearing medieval style armor, letting us know this is a fantasy-based game involving swords, if not sorcery: territory that Capcom may not have a lot of games in but have proven to be experts at with such games like Monster Hunter and Dragon's Dogma.

deep down ps4

The video reverses in time to before this attack by an unknown assiliant, showing our hero interacting with other members: we can assume this is his party, of sorts, similar to any role-playing game. As the group navigates through the caves, they come upon a large opening where we get a glimpse of our assailant from before: a large, fire-breathing dragon.

What transpires next is the group attempting to foil the dragon using not only their weapons, but the environment as well. Unfortunately for our heroes, the dragon is simply too much of a fight as we're left with the tagline “Conquer your fear or die a coward” as the flames from the dragon bear down on our poor knight. The video ends with the player using the PlayStation 4 social system to ask another player for help, offering to split the loot with him if he helps.

At this point, there isn't a lot of information to go on if you only go by what Capcom has shown us. However, read between the lines, and you can figure out that Deep Down is a working title for a new Dragon's Dogma. Other than the fact both games use the same alliteration, there are key moments in the video which key us to the fact that this is a new Dragon's Dogma game.

In the video itself, the video seems to randomly show us the player interacting with a group of individuals that he is grouping with. Dragon's Dogma experts know that the pawn system, where you can group with three computer controlled allies, played a large part in the game.

Not only was Dragon's Dogma about conquering large enemies, many of them 10 and 20 times the size of the player, but dragons themselves played a large part in the story, with the game both starting and ending with a fight with a dragon. The fact that this video is showcasing a fight with a dragon may just be coincidence, but it is a rather large one.

If you compare Deep Down with any Dragon's Dogma, you can see the resemblance in the gritty, dark atmosphere of both Dragon's Dogma and Deep Down. In all aspects, Deep Down looks like a graphically upgraded version of Dragon's Dogma and even the trailer feels like it was made by the same team.

Finally, outside of the video shown, Dragon's Dogma has proven to be a very successful new franchise for Capcom worldwide, rivaling even the sales of Monster Hunter in Japan. Capcom has mentioned previously that Dragon's Dogma will become a focus for them moving forward and they will capitalize on the success of the game. Having a sequel to the game ready near the PlayStation 4 launch would be a great way to capitalize on the success.

The staff at PS4 Experts will have more information on Deep Down for the PS4 as Capcom continues to reveal information!

Article by - Joshua Phillips
Insert Date: 02/23/2013

March 19th 2013 Update: Capcom Confirms Deep Down Is New IP

There was a lot of talk over whether Deep Down was a new IP or not when it was first unveiled. Capcom themselves said it was only a "working title," and, as you can tell by the original article on this website, the game had many similarities to popular Capcom franchise Dragon's Dogma.

However, in an interview with MCV, Yoshinori Ono has clarified that the game is, in fact, an entirely new property along with the reasons on why this is:

" We wanted to be free to utilize the PS4′s hardware capabilities and unique services without the constraints of working within an existing IP. Of course, the development experience we gain will put us in an even better position to bring our existing series to the console in a way that takes full advantage of its hardware and services."

While we're disappointed the game is not the Dragon's Dogma sequel we wanted, it's exciting to see Capcom breaking new ground and being one of the only third parties to release a non-sequel game on the PS4.

Update by - Joshua Phillips
Insert Date: 3/19/2013

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