The first details emerged on Just Cause studio Avalanche's new open-world fantasy game, AionGuard, which is revealed in the new issue of Edge magazine.
AionGuard looks very much like a war game on an epic scale, with armies of thousands, pilot-able dragons souring through the skies and magical beasts the size of houses smashing through the battlefield.
The game, which has been in development for two years and doesn't have a publisher yet, follows the powerful AionGuard forces, an elite force who merge for life with symbiotic armour which grants them awesome magical powers. Avalanche describes them as a mix of "WWI dogfighter pilots, Samurai and medieval knights."
The AionGuard are out to recapture the world after the near-destruction of their civilization, and they do this by invading and capturing various dragon and wizard-filled regions from the occupying Nazurbaal, who are 'harvesting' the world of its magical energy source.
The end goal of recapturing each area is the enemy stronghold in the region, which you you'll ultimately thwart by leading a thousand-man army, that reacts to your success and defeat on the battlefield, against it.
But - this being an open-world effort - there's more strategy on the battlefield than just marching up to the front door; by exploring the world players can cripple supply lines or capture 'geo nodes', the power sources of a region's stronghold, making it much easier to attack.
In some circumstances players will also have to befriend local tribes for help and reinforcements, such as gaining more air units to attack a flying fortress.
Avalanche is desperate to emphasise that AionGuard's missions are designed to go up against the "finest set-pieces videogaming has to offer," it says.
It sounds promising and looks great. For much, much more see the massive preview in Edge issue 198, out January 15 and in subscribers' hands now.
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