Seven years. Seven years since Sucker Punch hatched its comic book-styled superhero universe and nudged Cole MacGrath into the pantheon of PlayStation mascots in all of his dark and brooding glory.
In that time, we’ve watched as Empire City crumbled from the fallout of the Ray Sphere; warded off a vampirish invasion in New Marais; and sat atop Seattle’s towering Space Needle, gazing down on the studio’s lush rendition of the Emerald City.
It’s been quite the ride, to put it mildly, and earlier this week we selected a handful of the franchise’s finest moments to commemorate inFAMOUS’ 7th anniversary. In retrospect, Sucker Punch’s series has earned its place among Sony’s roster of exclusives; for better or worse, inFAMOUS has become synonymous with the modern PlayStation brand, not lest after becoming one of the early mascots for the PS4 in March of 2014.
With Great Power…
But now that we’ve experienced the Second Son’s rise to power, not to mention basking in the glow of Fetch and her blinding First Light, the immediate future of Sony’s inFAMOUS franchise is largely up for question.
Reports surfaced that the Washington-based studio was being tapped to helm a licensed Spider-Man title — a natural fit, given their superhero M.O. — but those rumors quickly cooled before they could gain any serious traction.
If anything, though, the unfounded reports remind us that inFAMOUS’ future may not lie with Sucker Punch after all. Case in point: The climactic events of inFAMOUS 2, which invariably steered the developer away from a numbered sequel and instead spawned a standalone title in the form of Second Son.
We’re now presented with two different scenarios — not unlike the Conduits are the heart of the series — will Sucker Punch continue to nurture the inFAMOUS franchise, effectively allowing the developer to continue its remarkable steak of open-world titles? Or does the platform-holder have plans to pass the bioterrorist torch on to another studio, opening up the possibility for the inFAMOUS series to branch off in entirely new directions?
Before indulging in some good old-fashioned conjecture, though, let’s not forget that this is one of Sony’s bankable first-party tentpoles. Thanks in large part to the pent-up demand for bona fide AAA experiences at the time, inFAMOUS: Second Son stormed to one million sales within nine days on the market back in 2014, a strong momentum Sucker Punch continued with the release of First Light some months later.
Cole? Delsin? Or Fetch?
Taking that into consideration, we’re inclined to believe that the inFAMOUS franchise as we know it isn’t going away anytime soon. Besides, Scott Rohde, Game Development Head for Sony Worldwide Studios America, stated as much during PlayStation Experience late last year, revealing that the platform-holder is “never going to retire an IP. We’re always going to be open to [making more inFAMOUS games]. That’s about the best way I can answer that.”
Hardly a firm confirmation that inFAMOUS 3 (Second Son 2?) is a lock, but it does remind us that in no way does Sony consider the franchise to be dormant. Faced with two diverging paths, let’s suppose for a moment that Sucker Punch takes point for another installment in the series — perhaps aligning the purported continuation for a release in late 2017.
Given the sheer amount of resources that were dumped into Second Son — the nuanced character animations, environmental design and other assets — an immediate sequel to the story of Delsin Rowe remains a hot favorite.
But shortly after the Seattle-based offshoot broke onto the scene, Sucker Punch’s Game Director Nate Fox was quizzed about the future of inFAMOUS in an interview with IGN, stating:
“What the next game is? Who knows. I certainly think Infamous is a great franchise for more games because it’s just about an everyday guy that gets powers and decides if he wants to use them for good or evil, and that’s a lot of stories, you know? That’s somebody young or old, male or female, in any country in the world. It’d work.”
As Fox alludes to, the inFAMOUS template shouldn’t necessarily be restricted to North America; at its electrifying core, it’s a relatively universal arc, imbuing a nameless protagonist with superhuman abilities before thrusting them into one moral dilemma after another.
A Universal Template?
If we zero in on Fox’s comments — particularly “young or old, male or female, in any country in the world” — it broadens the canvas to a scope not unlike Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise. Perhaps not in terms of different historical eras, but the notion that Sucker Punch could unfold the core inFAMOUS blueprint to a variety of locations across the globe is certainly tantalizing.
On the other end of the speculative spectrum, if Sucker Punch opts to move on to a new IP altogether, which studio will Sony elect to take the reins? Remember it was Sanzaru Games who picked up the Sly Cooper series in 2010, while Sony Bend also has a fleeting history with the inFAMOUS brand, having scrapped a handheld version for PlayStation Vita before eventually shifting focus to its mysterious, as-yet-unannounced PS4 exclusive (possibly titled Dead Don’t Ride, last we reported).
With or without Sucker Punch at the helm, we’re quietly confident — even nigh on certain — that inFAMOUS has a future under Sony. Outside of God of War, Killzone, and Uncharted, it’s one of the key action-oriented cornerstones of the PlayStation ecosystem. Plus, the fact that all remains quiet on the Sucker Punch front indicates that, at the very least, we should catch wind of whether or not the founding fathers will be returning to the inFAMOUS sandbox this generation very soon indeed.
All things considered, what are your hopes for the future of inFAMOUS? Do you believe Sucker Punch will remain at the helm for the time being, possibly announcing a new title at E3 2016 next month? Or is it now time for the developer to pass on the torch to another one of Sony’s first or even second-party studios? Do let us know.
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inFAMOUS Retrospective
Join us as we recount the very best moments from Sucker Punch's franchise.
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7. Reggie’s Death
If inFAMOUS began life sporting comic book cutscenes, Second Son blew the doors off with motion capture performances that were, at the time, some of the best available on the PlayStation 4 — and indeed anywhere.
At the heart of the story was Troy Baker’s Delsin Rowe, an unruly punk who spent his life growing up under the shadow of his lawful big brother, Reggie (played here by Travis Willingham). Much of Second Son sees the siblings squabble over Delsin’s superhuman abilities, with Reggie firmly believing they should be kept out of sight lest our protagonist be hunted as just another Bioterrorist.
But just as the bickering pair become brothers in arms to battle Augustine and her D.U.P. army, one fateful encounter with Augustine and her concrete abilities result in Delsin and Reggie dangling above the ocean.
Weighed down by the gravel ensnaring his feet, Reggie rejects Delsin’s pleas, reveals how proud he is, and lets go of his brother’s flailing hand to plunge to his death. On paper, it’s a heart-wrenching scene, but the stunning performances and visuals help craft one of the franchise’s finest moments.
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6. Kessler’s Reveal
Circling back to where it all began seven years ago, inFAMOUS’ jet-black story reached its crescendo when Cole MacGrath — Hero or inFAMOUS — confronted the game’s key villain in Ground Zero. Enraged by the recent death of his girlfriend Trish (more on that one later), the duo’s clash made for a grandstand finale, but when the player eventually topples Kessler, the big bad reveals a devastating secret.
Ramping up inFAMOUS’ sci-fi elements, Kessler implants his memories in Cole’s fractured mind, revealing him to be a warped version of our electrifying hero from the not-so-distant future.
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5. Fetch’s Plight
Upholding the franchise’s strong streak of DLC, inFAMOUS: First Light burst out the gate in 2014, welcoming players back to Seattle with a twist. With Delsin’s story all but wrapped up for the time being, Sucker Punch’s neon-drenched expansion turned the spotlight onto Abigail "Fetch" Walker, exploring her tortured past under the D.U.P. and how she became the troubled rebel we are introduced to in Second Son.
Putting aside the neon races and arena challenges, First Light deserves recognition for its ability to competently flesh out the story of Fetch herself, who is arguably a more compelling lead when compared to Delsin. Besides, lighting up the Emerald City — admittedly a small portion of Second Son’s open world — is as fun as it as beautiful, even if the prequel story only stretches for four-to-five hours.
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4. Pyre Night — Festival of Blood
Continuing to spotlight inFAMOUS’ strong DLC offerings, our next tip of the hat goes to Festival of Blood, the vampire-themed spinoff released shortly after inFAMOUS 2 five years ago. Kicking the iconic morality system to the curb, Festival of Blood opened with Zeke recounting the events that transpired on Pyre Night.
Thrusting New Marais into darkness, our hero Cole MacGrath is abruptly transformed into a bloodsucker upon crossing paths with the all-powerful Bloody Mary. If Cole was imbued with intoxicating abilities in Empire City, our hero’s descent into vampirism opens up a whole host of new gameplay mechanics, chief among them being vampire sight to locate the blood-sucking fiends before transformation.
All in all, for a standalone and gleefully dark spinoff, inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood is a fantastic example of what DLC can be, opening up a bloody good time for fans of Sucker Punch’s superhero series.
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3. Empire City Crumbles
Seven years. Seven years to the day since Empire City was brought to its knees by a bio-electrical device known as the Ray Sphere, and the life of one Cole MacGrath was unceremoniously upended.
Given Empire City was modelled after the Big Apple — no stranger to cataclysmic events in fiction — the opening of inFAMOUS could have so easily slipped into cliché. But Sucker Punch’s franchise-starter thrust players into a bleak, apocalyptic world of bioterrorists and city-wide quarantines with ease. Much of that came down to the comic book-styled cut scenes, as the glum narrator chronicled Empire City’s descent into anarchy before Cole MacGrath, standing tall against the thugs that now rule the streets, prepares to reclaim his city from the clutches of evil. As far as video game openings go, inFAMOUS is something special.
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2. Trish’s Death
Switching gears from opening to conclusion, one moment that still resonates from the first inFAMOUS game is its grand finale. Not only it does act as the culmination of your own personal Karma choices, but the scene in question tasks players with choosing between the unthinkable and the unspeakable.
Nevertheless, whichever moral path you find yourself on, Trish dies at the hands of Kessler, who uses her death as a catalyst in Cole’s inevitable confrontation with the Beast — an entity that appeared in an alternate timeline that chased Kessler and eventually killed his family.
But mind-bending timelines aside, the emotional, ahem, sucker punch of inFAMOUS’ ending is made all the more palpable in that, no matter how you shaped your own story, all the powers in Empire City wouldn’t have saved Trish.
Nagging at her worst and unflinchingly loyal at her best, for all of her ability to divide fans — quite literally — whether Trish dies proclaiming her love for Cole or delivering a scathing message to the tune of “God gave you these powers, and you squandered them” is one of the very best moments in the series.
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1. inFAMOUS 2 Finale
It was a prophesy long foretold; the day the Beast would form in Empire City and portend doom for Conduits near and far. That’s the moment inFAMOUS 2 gets underway, chronicling Cole’s plight to harness the Ray Field Inhibitor in order to effectively destroy the Beast — but there’s a catch.
In doing so, Cole’s actions would create a rippling effect across the planet, wiping out every Conduit in the process. It’s here that inFAMOUS’ core Karma system flourishes, as players toe the moral line between good and evil — right and wrong? — and essentially tee up two endings.
Depending on which path you choose, Cole will either fire up the Inhibitor and destroy John White (the Beast) or, conversely, White opts to relinquish his powers, allowing Cole to become the Beast and spread ‘the plague’ across the four corners of the globe.
Martyr or tyrant? Messiah or devil? Good or evil? That choice is ultimately left to you, setting the stage for a grand finale to the core inFAMOUS franchise.
