Sunset Overdrive Lets You Play As Who You Want To Be

Insomniac's upcoming Sunset Overdrive posits the question: What would you do in the apocalypse? You play as a worker who's given near-boundless freedom in Sunset City following an energy-drink mishap. If earlier coverage and trailers have left you cold on the generic-looking dude that's been featured so far, don't worry. According to the game's creative team, you'll be able to shape your own hero.

"We have a guy on the cover of our game, but we don't have a named character," says creative director Marcus Smith. "You won't play as that guy. You're going to use our robust character customization to build a character that you want to play. You can be male, female – anything in between – different races, different body sizes, a full, wide variety of different hairstyles, [and] a lot of clothing options. You can be as crazy or as conservative as you want to be. That is the character that you play through the campaign and it's also the character you'll play in multiplayer, and you can change him throughout the campaign."

The setup for the game is that a multinational corporation named Fizzco has pushed a new Overcharge Delerium XT energy drink through the FDA process, and it causes monsterism as a side effect. As the player, you're stuck in a locked-down city that's plagued with infected drinkers from the Sunset City launch party and other hostile survivors. Smith says the team saw potential in the scenario as it relates to how players (and their characters) can express themselves.

For more information on the game, take a look at our extended preview.