ReCore

ReCore is brought to us by Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune and his Comcept team, and by members of the Metroid Prime team at Armature. Mixing Metroid-style exploration with hopping and gunning similar to Mega Man, ReCore blends these elements into a unique experience of its own. Taking place on a hostile planet known as Far Eden after a failed terraforming project, Joule and her robotic companions fight for survival and attempt to save what's left of the human race. 

At Gamescom, we played a portion of ReCore and saw a presentation focusing on customization and the secrets spread around the planet's wasteland. Here are five things we learned.

Your Robot Companions Have Unique Abilities
In ReCore, you have three sidekicks, including the robotic dog Mack, the spider-like droid Seth, and the hard-hitting, mechanical ape Duncan. Each have a lethal strike in combat which deals large amounts of damage, and they all have their own unique skill sets to help you out of sticky situations. Seth can grapple onto vertical or hanging tracks as you hold onto him, to reach higher vantage points and new areas. Duncan's beast-like strength allows him to smash boulders which can unveil loot. Other times, large rocks can unleash enemies; in our demo, Seth broke apart a boulder which let loose a flying, mechanical caterpillar.

Color-Coded Combat Is Tough But Dynamic
ReCore's battles center on a color-coded system. Using the d-pad, you can switch between Joule's blue, red, or yellow ammo to better attack enemies. If your enemy is red, then it would be most effective to use the same colored ammunition to defeat it. Your pulse charge is a handy tool that strikes more damage, as well as takes down enemy shields.

Switching between your corebots gives you an extra edge. For example, because Mack has a yellow core, he's perfect to use against yellow foes. While this may sound simplistic, it becomes a challenge when several different colored enemies are homing in, and some enemies have the ability to instantly change color. 

You Can Customize And Upgrade Your Robots
Every time you take down an enemy, you have the choice to either rip out its core, or kill it to retrieve other parts and resources. Cores and parts are used to customize your bots, which in turn also progress their skill sets further. By mixing and matching new frames and cores, you give your bots buffs such as quicker cooldowns for lethal attacks. Through exploration, you'll find resources which can be used to craft new armor sets for them. There are no aesthetic-only customizations in ReCore; even an add-on such as floating angelic wings added to Mack's back will give him a skill boost. These customizations can be done at Joule's workbench in the main hub called The Crawler. Whenever you leave The Crawler, you choose which mechanical party members come with you.

Movement And Timing Play An Essential Role
With no cover system in ReCore, your ability to stay alive is largely dependent on dodging and jumping to evade enemy fire. In one segment of the hands-on demo, parts of the ground became fiery pits that I had to avoid. These pits would turn on and off in a subsequent pattern, and I had to tiptoe around its edges while fighting a handful of enemies. It was difficult to master, but my eventual success was related to my dance-like movements on the floor, and using dash, which makes Joule glide in the air for a short period of time.

Far Eden Is A Semi-Open World
During the demo, we got a brief tour of Far Eden outside of The Crawler. Far Eden is a desert-like wasteland, but even though it may seem barren, it holds secrets, loot, and hidden dungeons. By jumping around this world and relying on your companion Seth's ability to grapple onto platforming tracks, you can uncover new areas. Certain dungeons scattered around the world require a specific number of cores to unlock.