At its Gamescom 2015 press conference today, Microsoft showed off the first look at the Xbox One-exclusive game, Scalebound. Made by Platinum Games, Scalebound is an action role-playing game that features battles with massive creatures alongside an allied dragon.
During the demo, Platinum announced that the game will have a four-player cooperative mode, which seems like it would be potentially chaotic and entertaining.
Scalebound immediately draws comparisons to Ninja Theory's DmC: Devil May Cry. The protagonist is a young man wearing headphones and wielding huge weapons, and his one-liners are very similar to those of DmC's Dante. Its action looks like the sort of tight action gameplay that fans of Platinum expect -- except with one twist. The protagonist goes through the game alongside a dragon, which he uses as both a mount and a battle partner.
Beyond the dragon, what makes Scalebound's action unique is that the main character has the ability to take on the abilities of dragons at will. In the demo, his skin appeared to morph into dragon scales and armor, and he became more of a classical fantasy knight wielding a broadsword.
The game looks crazy. The dragon and a huge monster clashed while the protagonist ran around and tried to target the creature's weak points. Occasionally, the character would climb the enemy monster and attack it.
Of course, there are also more normal action sequences, during which the main character fights groups of human enemies. And, for the most part, those look like other Platinum Games fight sequences.
But the dragon and the character's ability to morph his appearance and skills make this game intriguing. It'll still be a while before it's made available, however. It's planned for release on Xbox One sometime next year.
Check back on GameSpot later today for the full Scalebound demo, and keep an eye open in the coming months for more news and videos.