June 24, 2019 by Paul Curtin
Tripwire returned to this year’s PC Gaming Show at E3 2019 with another trailer for Maneater, their upcoming shark RPG or “ShaRk-PG” as they’re calling it.
We got a chance to sit down with the devs behind-closed-doors and see gameplay of the open-world single-player action and were pleasantly surprised with the level of depth and character customization the game teased.
Similar to other open-world games, Maneater allows the player to freely swim around the Gulf Coast and even spend brief periods of time out of the water at beach resorts, industrial ports, and other locations tasty humans gather in groups.
As teased in the trailer, humans on land and in the sea can all be devoured by the maneater. But what wasn’t shown were the game’s RPG elements where every human snacked on increases the shark’s XP that goes towards unique evolutions such as the ability to spend more time on land, grow in size, and even gain electrical powers.
Killing humans of course leads to bounty hunters showing up and the player being forced to fight the waves of enemies or flee – similar to the police in Grand Theft Auto. And to keep things from getting too dark, the developers have enlisted Chris Parnell (SNL, Archer, Rick and Morty) who hilariously narrates your horrific activities and makes other interesting comments about the local wildlife.
Aside from eating humans and other fish, the developers also teased boss fights with “apex predators” like giant alligators and other monsters that lurk in high-level areas of the water. We didn’t get a chance to see a boss encounter as the devs explained the shark would first need to level up to be strong enough to take on the boss who was far bigger and stronger at the moment.
In addition to predators in the water, as seen in the new rock’n trailer, the fisherman known as “Scaly Pete” will also serve as the game’s main villain who the dev’s explained has a history with the shark and should lead to some Jaws-style showdowns when the game is finally released likely sometime in 2020.
