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Self Destructs, Mud Camouflage & More! – Predator: Hunting Grounds @ Tokyo Game Show

Hot on the heals of their appearances at GamesCom and PAX West, Illfonic took Predator: Hunting Grounds to the Tokyo Game Show last week to show the game to some of Japan’s gaming journalists. Thanks to some of the articles cropping up, we’ve got some new information about what Predator: Hunting Grounds has in store for us!

We know that the player controlled Fireteam are able to be killed, but according to PlayStation.JP you’re able to revive your dead team-mates!

In addition, even if you are killed by a predator or enemy soldier, you can reanimate them before they die. Even if they die, they can be revived in the form of reinforcements by going to “reinforcement points” for surviving friends.

The Predator player also gets a second chance in the form of an ability known as “Second Wind.” When you’ve taken a beating and you’re nearly down for the count, you’re able to have that last burst of energy in an attempt to retreat and escape, though you’re not able to attack during this moment.

 Self Destructs, Mud Camouflage & More! - Predator: Hunting Grounds @ Tokyo Game Show

Illfonic CEO Charles Blanguard and CCO Jared Geritzen doing the iconic hand grasp!

More interestingly, Playstation.JP also confirmed that the Predator player actually has the option to self destruct when they’ve been finally taken down! Illfonic Creative Director Jared Geritzen clarified the implications of this last resort on the game’s victory conditions:

You can get points according to the number of people who finally killed, so rather than winning or losing or drawing, there are more points that you can get if you kill yourself and annihilate it at the end. Rather than deciding a clear win or loss, it is better to have different ways to finish, so this is the system.

While a tactic the Predator is very well known for, it’s not a feature that tends to make it into Predator games. In the Predator’s most recent appearance in Ghost Recon: Wildlands, you had to escape a self-destruct once you downed the Predator. The only game that I can think of that actually allowed this last act of defiance while actually playing as the Predator was the Aliens vs. Predator 2 expansion, Primal Hunt.

 Self Destructs, Mud Camouflage & More! - Predator: Hunting Grounds @ Tokyo Game Show

Further skins, weapons, and other items are unlocked via points. Collecting the skulls of the player controlled Fireteam also contributes more points. It also has a secondary advantage of meaning the Fireteam member can’t be revived from their downed state, but has to wait for a comrade-in-arms to get to the reinforcement points to respawn them.

A hands-on report from Famitsu also states that the Fireteam is actually able to select an infiltration area, meaning that each map doesn’t always start from the same location. Not only will this help keep matches feeling fresh, it also means the Predator player wont know which exact point the Fireteam will be coming in from.

Before starting the match, select the current infiltration area. Decide on the most selected area from the four camps, and if no one chooses, it will be decided randomly. This time, it was decided to be “waterfall” and, as its name suggests, it was an area with a waterfall nearby.

Disappointingly, it was also confirmed that Predator: Hunting Grounds currently only contains jungle based locations.

When it comes to cities, there are few trees and there is no difference in elevation, so I think that the fun will be lost.

Hopefully this will change going forward. I would think that different building sizes, drain pipes, fire escapes and etc would be able to offer differing levels of elevation so the Predator was able to move around.

A cool feature that we previously learned about was the ability for the Fireteam members to cover themselves in mud to camouflage themselves against the Predator’s infra-red vision. Playstation.JP confirmed that this mud will also start to fall off as you move around and get involved in combat, meaning that this advantage is only temporary.

 Self Destructs, Mud Camouflage & More! - Predator: Hunting Grounds @ Tokyo Game Show

While not related to the event at Tokyo, PlayStation.com posted a summary of “Everything We Learned about Predator: Hunting Grounds at Gamescom 2019” (though they were likely the same builds of the game). The new article confirms that another legacy feature from Aliens vs. Predator 2 will be returning for Predator: Hunting Grounds!

“His helmet can get blown off which makes him even more vulnerable as he won’t have heat vision any more, and you won’t be able to aim the Plasma Caster, so the shots will be a little off.”

How are you feeling about everything we’ve been learning about Predator: Hunting Grounds so far?  Thanks to Kailem for the links.

Make sure you stick with Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for the latest news on Predator: Hunting Grounds! You can follow us on FacebookTwitter, Instagram and YouTube to get the latest on your social media walls. You can also join in with fellow Alien and Predator fans on our forums!



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Comments: 28
  1. Voodoo Magic
    Quote from: Kailem on Sep 28, 2019, 12:47:46 PM

    Obviously we'll have to see how it works out, but I'm not against this system in theory compared to one that had perma-death. One of the most annoying things in Friday the 13th was playing as a counselor and having Jason find and kill you immediately, so you basically had to sit out the entire game if you wanted any XP (and respawning as Tommy Jarvis was random and only for one player). So having a system where you can be brought back doesn't sound so bad to me.

    Agreed  :)
  2. Kailem
    Yeah some people seem to be getting confused as to the meaning of "revived." You can only be revived if you're not dead yet.

    It's basically the same as Left 4 Dead or Apex Legends. If a player is knocked down they can be revived and get back up. If they're knocked down and then actually killed (see what Voodoo posted above about the Predator taking trophies for that very purpose), their teammates have to go to a specific location on the map to respawn them, like the closets in L4D or the respawn beacons in Apex. So unless and until they do that their team is a lot more vulnerable because they're down a man (or more), and depending on how the respawning (or "reinforcement") points are actually handled, the Predator could also be waiting for them there because he knows there's a good chance they're going to try to bring their buddies back in if he kills any of them.

    Here's a couple of videos from the PAX thread that show people being downed and killed, from both perspectives:

    In this one you see the Predator attack a player and down him, and a message pops up saying "Assault was downed, Go revive them!"

    Then he immediately does a trophy kill on him and the message appears saying "Assault has been killed! Look for the reinforcements mission to activate."



    And then in this one at the 10:10 mark you see it from the human player's perspective, the Predator attacks and downs him but he's still alive, with a health bar appearing on the screen and the ability to spot the Predator or call for help from his teammates. Then a few seconds later the Predator rushes back and tries to kill him so his teammates can't get him back up:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY4a92WzSjM&feature=youtu.be&t=610

    Obviously we'll have to see how it works out, but I'm not against this system in theory compared to one that had perma-death. One of the most annoying things in Friday the 13th was playing as a counselor and having Jason find and kill you immediately, so you basically had to sit out the entire game if you wanted any XP (and respawning as Tommy Jarvis was random and only for one player). So having a system where you can be brought back doesn't sound so bad to me.
  3. Voodoo Magic
    Quote from: Nameless_1 on Sep 27, 2019, 10:39:31 PM
    Well then what is the damn point of killing if the people you kill can be revived?

    I get what you're saying but I actually like this mechanic:


    • Predator: Rip out its enemies' skulls to prevent them from getting revived by teammates

      Every hunter needs his trophies, and the Predator is no exception. In this case, ripping out the downed Fireteam members' skulls from their bodies will put them out of the match for an extended period of time, until one of the other players calls them back in at a designated reinforcement point. Otherwise, each of the team members can call out for help and get revived on the spot.

      The developers at Illfonic also confirmed that the team is working hard on implementing a whole slew of ways the Predator can finish off its victims, and claim its trophy in all sorts of gruesome ways. Right now only the skull gets ripped out, but we're fully expecting the attached spine to come along with the skull in the final game.

      https://geekculture.co/tgs-2019-5-new-things-we-learned-from-predator-hunting-grounds/

  4. Nameless_1
    Well then what is the damn point of killing if the people you kill can be revived?

    One of the biggest points of dread in the movie was how each time a team member was killed it weakened the group and made them more vulnerable because there was no help coming. They were on their own.

    This just sounds like they want to copy Dead By Daylight or Last Year instead of being something more unique.

  5. Enjoy
    I think a large city map of L.A in the style of predator 2 would be awesome. The elevator shaft down to the sewer with the ship and the top of sky scrappers would be a lot of ground to cover.
    I think it would get my money.
  6. Kailem
    Or alternatively players could be a SWAT team going on a mission against a gang (Colombians or Jamaicans, perhaps) who are the NPCs, getting choppered in and out when the Predator shows up.

    Either way I feel like it's doable within the framework they've set up.
  7. SuperiorIronman
    Quote from: Kailem on Sep 22, 2019, 04:09:34 PM
    Just gotta keep tweeting "please to DLC this, Illfonic!" at them. :laugh:

    https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nerdinfinite.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F12%2FPredator-2-posteredited.jpg&hash=b05f478ea7ed251b07f755f57c36d0c3aca3147c

    If City Hunter isn't in the base game, you think we could get them to do a Predator 2 Expansion?

    Soldiers replaced with the OWLF
    Predator is City Hunter or one of the Lost Hunters
    Objectives are based around the attempted capture or killing of the Predator as well as removing evidence of the creature and or claiming fallen gear.

    And as for story, this could take place during Predator 2, maybe there was more than the one team? There are more Predators on the ship and so maybe a few of them went out themselves and we just don't see it.

    It could also introduce new gadgets for the Human players like the temperature suits and new vision modes for the Predator.
  8. Kailem
    Np, and unfortunately it doesn't seem like we'll be getting one (at launch anyway). It's certainly possible in the future as DLC, but it sounds like for now it's just going to be a jungle setting with variations.
  9. Kailem
    While it's technically unconfirmed, gameplay shows the Predator's weapon/gadget select has 7 slots, with only 3 of them being used in everything that's been shown so far (wrist blades, plasma caster, medicomp), so it's a fairly safe bet we'll be able to choose our weaponry one way or another.

    Likewise while we haven't heard anything yet about alternate skins, Friday the 13th had practically every Jason skin you could think of, so it's also a pretty safe bet we should be getting some different Preds to choose from too.
  10. Kailem
    I remember AVP was a big incentive to get our PC upgraded back in the day.

    I still need to finish playing through Concrete Jungle. I bought a new copy off Amazon a few months back largely due to being hyped about this and never having played it back in the day (£60 off Amazon, only to then see it on sale for £30 the day after, of course :P ). Despite some questionable control decisions I've been digging it so far, especially the optional objectives to unlock new skins. Here's hoping Hunting Grounds takes all of the good and less of the bad and improves on it all!

    Also a shame it doesn't seem like there's any new footage being captured from its TGS appearance. Maybe Japanese gamers just aren't into recording this sort of thing off screens?
  11. SuperiorIronman
    Quote from: TYRANTKINGALIEN on Sep 21, 2019, 01:59:33 AM
    Hopefully we see it on xbox and pc. As is I'm not buying a ps4.for it. Bare minimum I'll play it on pc.
    if or when.
    I'm also really surprised they are doing a game on predator after the last movies performance. and only marketing it to a single console???
    Cuts your dam market by so much, hopefully it does not fail, that would be really bad for the franchise.

    Near as I understood is that while The Predator did poorly, it didn't do nearly as badly as we'd feared. It held some tax credits and Fox felt comfortable enough to do those home release ads. Near as we know the NECA figures also still do well and Archie Versus Predator 2 (as niche as we can get) did well enough it opened within lower tier Marvel sales which isn't bad for Darkhorse. So despite the source, merchandise still moved. It's also at fault for those who put Shane Black in the directors chair despite what kind of films he's known for making and the studio's fault for the 11th hour costly edit, re-shoot, and delays which saddles the movie with extra debt.

    So while it wasn't a great position to be in, it's mitigated but still a disaster they themselves made.

    Sony probably not knowing what awaited the film and the merchandise yet still moving after probably took it as a low risk potential high-yield production. Makes sense given the creative team and Sony having won this console generation and PS5 potentially being compatible with the PS4 library makes it able to be sold on two systems for the int ital developing cost.


  12. TYRANTKINGALIEN
    Hopefully we see it on xbox and pc. As is I'm not buying a ps4.for it. Bare minimum I'll play it on pc.
    if or when.
    I'm also really surprised they are doing a game on predator after the last movies performance. and only marketing it to a single console???
    Cuts your dam market by so much, hopefully it does not fail, that would be really bad for the franchise.
  13. Shamo
    I gotta say I am really looking forward to this one! I feel they have exactly the right ideas to make this an interesting multiplayer game.

    Panic and Celebration Moments.
  14. molasar
    Quote from: Still Collating... on Sep 20, 2019, 09:38:37 AM
    If they're smart, they're gonna port it to PC sooner or later. However good the game might be, it will die if it's only on PS4. This is a niche product for a limited, niche fanbase, and they need as much of us as possible to make it a success. The graphics aren't crazy, there's no need to keep it on the PS4 only forever. I haven't got a console, and I never will. We'll see what happens.
    It will live through compatibility on PS5.

    Then there is this even if it is a second party game.
    https://gematsu.com/2019/08/sony-interactive-entertainments-shawn-layden-suggests-some-first-party-multiplayer-titles-will-come-to-additional-platforms
  15. Still Collating...
    If they're smart, they're gonna port it to PC sooner or later. However good the game might be, it will die if it's only on PS4. This is a niche product for a limited, niche fanbase, and they need as much of us as possible to make it a success. The graphics aren't crazy, there's no need to keep it on the PS4 only forever. I haven't got a console, and I never will. We'll see what happens.
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