Everything We Learned About Scalebound at Gamescom 2015

The Main Character Is BFFs With a Dragon and Is Also Part Dragon

Update: We learned even more today about Scalebound, which you can read about here.

While a lot of us had a hunch of what to expect from Xbox One exclusive Scalebound since its announcement at E3 2014, at Gamescom 2015 we finally got a good look at what Scalebound is going to be about. Dragons. Flying on dragons, fighting with dragons and getting into petty arguments with dragons.

The main character, Drew, has a dragon companion that will be joining him on his adventure. Drew seemingly can understand the dragon’s grunts and snorts, and can command the dragon to preform various tasks during combat. For instance, the Gamescom trailer shows Drew ordering the dragon to stomp over enemies and knock down structures. It looks like staying on top of dragon commands will be an important part of Scalebound’s gameplay.

Also, and perhaps why Drew can communicate with the dragon, Drew seems to be part dragon himself. During the trailer, Drew’s arm briefly displays some dragon-like scales. Also, in the combat section, Drew transforms into some kind of dragon-like creature for a short amount of time and looked like it unlocked new, more powerful attacks. Sweet.

Scalebound Has ARPG-like Combat and a Skill Point System

Scalebound definitely looks to have some features similar to ARPG games. In the trailer we see some traditional hacking and slashing combos from drew to go along with the ordering around of the dragon that we covered in the last page. There is also some kind of item crossbar which looks a lot like what is used in the Souls games. Mines and traps seem to be some of the items you’ll be able to use in combat.

Also seen is the main character Drew receiving a skill points, implying that there will be some kind of skill tree to use those points on. What’s interesting is that Drew seems to rack them up quickly, making their potential usage potentially different than what we’re used to. Call it an ARPG, action brawler, or whatever (genres are much more fluid these days), but we definitely have a much better idea of Scalebound’s gameplay after Gamescom.

There Are Some Godzilla Like Showdowns Featuring the Dragon

In Scalebound’s Gamecom trailer, we got to see more than just Drew hack and slashing some fodder enemies. After, dispatching a couple of scrubs, a giant hostile Antlion-like creature appears. To be honest, it brought back very recent memories of Guerrilla Games’ Horizon trailer from E3.

In these battles, it looks like Drew takes more of a supporting role and the dragon seems to be doing the heavy lifting. Drew makes some precision shots with his bow and arrow, and is able to stun the creature so the dragon can blow some fire on it, as dragons are known to do. Drew is more of a onlooker in these situations, watching two titans battle and helping out when he can. Hopefully there are more bigger and badder enemies to take on in Scalebound.

Drew Can Absorb Enemies Dovahkiin Style

After dispatching the giant antlion, bug, weird looking dragon or whatever it is in the Scalebound Gamescom trailer, Drew doesn’t let it escape or die in peace. Instead, he pulls a page from Skyrim’s Dovahkiin. After it goes down it looks like Drew freezes it (or crystallizes it or something like that), and then breaks it down into orbs of some sort.

It’s not clear what exactly that does yet. Is it just EXP orbs? Currency you need to level up skills or gain new abilities? We don’t know for sure yet. What we do know is that there are gameplay elements going on behind the scenes in the menus to break up the monotony. It’s more than just combat, combat, combat.

There’s a BYOD (Bring Your Own Dragon) Co-Op Multiplayer

Saved for the end of Scalebound’s Gamescom trailer as a surprise, Scalebound apparently has multiplayer! This certainly wasn’t a given, considering Platinum Games has been known to make single player only games before.

Better yet, it seems to feature large battles where everyone can bring their own dragon to fight for them, just as they do in single player. Considering how much space the dragon covered and took up in the single player demo, these battles are going to have to be massive in scale if they will be able to accommodate four players and four dragons smashing things all at the same time. It even looks like it may have a bit of a Monster Hunter-like vibe going on as well.

That’s just the start for Scalebound. Over the coming days and months we’re likely to learn more about the highly anticipated Xbox One exclusive and we’ll be sure to keep you all updated. Excited about Scalebound? Let us know in the comments!