Our Playthrough of the Rage 2 Gameplay Demo at QuakeCon 2018

“Open-world games are really fucking hard to make.” That’s id Software studio director Tim Willits responding to me when asked about the collaboration process between the house that built Wolfenstein and Doom and the studio behind open-world hits like the Just Cause series and more recently Mad Max – Avalanche Studios.

He would go on to describe that because players are given the freedom to explore and play in a sandbox with several different tools, this changes things from his own history as a level-designer. “It's so much of a systems-driven robust way of thinking,” Tim adds whilst continuing our discussion about the open-world design of Rage 2. “Typically I'm like, ‘Okay. I can script this guy to do exactly this and he comes just like this and I know the player's always here.’ And just thinking about this [in an open-world setting] is totally different, it has been an eye opener.”

The collaboration with Avalanche Studios though, has so far proved to be a fruitful one - with both id Software and the team in Sweden working together to create something quite special. With Rage 2, id Software provides its expertise in the realm of first-person shooters with Avalanche leveraging its own internal Apex engine to create vast stunning open-world sandboxes for players to, well, play in. It’s the combination of these two elements that help add a new layer to the fast-paced, relentless combat, one typically associates with an id game.


“There are some missions that have a traditional feel to them too,” Tim continues. “Where there's really only one way into an area. But, then there are some areas that truly are just whatever you want to do, you know? I think we have a good mix.” In the gameplay demo for Rage 2, which we were given the opportunity to playthrough twice (that’s the second run footage embedded above), things were purposefully kept linear and partially scripted to showcase the first-person shooting in full.

After a few runs, not only to did it sell the id style forward momentum we’ve come to love - but also reassure us that this aspect of Rage would be set in stone so to speak, long before the open-world was filled with activities and as Tim would put it “distractions”. “id Software games are a little intense and they're a little hardcore,” Tim admits. “With the Doom Eternal reveal, you're probably physically tired after watching that for 20 minutes. But, I do believe that Rage 2 will be more approachable to most people because when you play, you’ll get somewhere new and be like, ‘You know? I'm just going to bomb these guys from out here’. Or you'll go, ‘It's tough in there. Fuck that.’ And then you'll leave, and you'll do some stuff and you'll come back. So, you'll play the way you want. Plus, we have such a high distraction factor too.”


The Rage 2 demo then, played in a linear fashion was a showcase for just how fun and tight the combat feels - even in such an early state (Rage 2 still has a vague first-half of 2019 release window). The combination of traditional weapons, including the id-staple powerful shotgun, and Nanotrite abilities that sort of veer off into the realm of Force abilities – present both fun and challenging tools in the right sort of over-the-top way. Being able to send enemies flying against a wall and then splitting them apart with a shotgun is insane. And cool. And then following that with a version of a leap attack meets ground stomp, and then using a charged ultimate ability to melt enemies in a haze of neon pink lighting – awesome. How it all integrates seamlessly into the combat flow of shooting at anything that moves is particularly impressive. As is the quality of the AI which sells the factions of Rage 2 as anarchic post-apocalyptic psychos based on how they fight, and not simply based on their look.

Rage 2 offers up a version of the ‘keep moving’ combat we’ve come to expect from the studio – albeit different from Doom, and something we haven’t quite seen at this level in an open-world game before. In the demo for Rage 2, the little scenario we got to play involves an enemy faction setting up shop next to a facility that can bring down an Eco-Pod – a large structure still in Earth’s orbit filled with enough biological goodness to transform the landscape and rebuild the world.



A hint at some of the larger ambition of Rage 2’s open-world design, where different biomes not only lead to visually distinct locations that are a major leap forward from the browns and greys of the original – but also house different enemy factions and creatures, each with their own fighting styles, looks, and vehicles. Although detailed in the QuakeCon trailer above, we have to wait a bit longer before we get to go hands-on with the vehicle combat of Rage 2. Plus, witness the open-world exploration first-hand. But, even after this small taste of combat its clear that Avalanche Studios and id Software are creating one of the most interesting shooters currently in development. Open-world, full of exploration and player-choice – but with the sort of exceptionally tight and responsive first-person action usually associated with titles that limit their play-space to a corridor or two.

“It's more of the philosophy, especially with the game design,” Tim concludes whilst talking about the collaboration between id and Avalanche. “How to approach missions. I'll say, ‘I want to enter here and do this.’ And they're like, ‘What happens if you drive your tank through the back door?’ And I'm like, ‘Well, that's a good point.’ Rage 2 benefits from the magic of game design, through the sharing of two philosophies. It’s more than just a technology swap.”