Four years after its initial announcement, Microsoft’s Perfect Dark reboot has finally resurfaced, offering a first gameplay reveal for this reimagining of developer Rare’s classic spy-flavoured first-person shooter.
Announced back in December 2020, Microsoft’s Perfect Dark reboot was initially being developed exclusively by The Initiative, a studio specifically set up to handle its creation. However, the project has been hit by numerous set-backs since then and Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics was eventually bought in to help get it over the finish line.
Reports of a troubled development have continued to dog the Perfect Dark reboot – it was described as still being in a “very rough state” in May – so it’s perhaps a bit of a surprise to see a first gameplay trailer now. But that’s exactly what Microsoft has delivered during its latest Xbox Games Showcase, serving up nearly three and a half minutes of the shooter in action.
As per an update on Xbox Wire, the trailer shows Joanna Dark skulking around the Perfect Dark reboot’s near-future Cairo setting, with The Initiative having crafted an “entirely new story and universe” for this latest outing. It all unfolds in a world impacted by The Cascade – a series of environmental disasters which have rendered entire regions inhospitable – and hypercorporations have now stepped in to help the regeneration efforts, but their motives may be less than altruistic.