Rage 2 is perhaps the biggest game Avalanche Studios is working on right now. Developed in collaboration with id Software, this post-apocalyptic open world sequel adds a lot of new features, such as the Nanotrite powers.

In an interview published on GamesTM (issue 206), the developers described this addition as instrumental to deliver a 'Wasteland Superhero' experience.

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Loke Wallmo (Senior Game Designer at Avalanche): We’ve played around with this idea quite a bit. I think the Nanotrite powers in particular give the player increased dynamics, increased movement and a way to fight without the weapons. You will do the majority of your fighting with weapons, of course. But the Nanotrite powers add a lot to the mix; they help improve crowd control, movement, physicality and playfulness. It took us a long while to get that right, but I think – as you’ve seen today after playing it, hopefully – that you’ll feel like they really work very well together. Tim Willits (Studio Director at id): It’s all about getting you into the action a little bit faster. Because Rage 2 has such a big open world you can approach combat situations from anywhere and in any way that you want to. For example, we reward you for using abilities – it charges your Overdrive, you get different drops – it’s one of the many ways we get you into the action and keep you there.

On the visuals front, ever since the marketing campaign began fans noticed that it was much more colorful than the first game. Here's what the developers said about that.

Tim Willits (Studio Director at id): A lot of that actually came from, first, the desire to push it far from Rage. And then looking at what the Apex technology could do for us with the jungles and the forests and the swamps and the overgrown cities. And that brought to us light and colour with the vegetation. That led us to have more colourful characters, and people have evolved and let us have more colourful buildings and skies. And now we have a marketing campaign. So it’s really helped establish a unique identity in this world that’s sometimes crowded with brown games. Loke Wallmo (Senior Game Designer at Avalanche): You can’t just add colour to anything. So it’s a part of the identity of Rage, as well. It’s supposed to be fun, crazy, over-the-top, so it works really well with what we’re trying to do with the gameplay, with the characters, with the factions. It made a lot of sense to make everything as colourful as we could.

Lastly, Avalanche is well known for its expertise in crafting satisfying vehicles to drive and fight with (Mad Max in particular comes to mind), but Rage 2 won't focus too much on those.

Loke Wallmo (Senior Game Designer at Avalanche): It is different in the sense that the gameplay is focusing on more guns on the vehicles, more explosions and gadgets and more over-the-top stuff like that. So it does create a different starting point for where you want to go with the vehicles. But we’re not really focusing on the vehicles that much. You will have one major combat vehicle that is engineered for fighting out in the wasteland, but you can drive anything with wheels. And some other stuff, as well. It’s definitely up to you how you want to approach getting around the world and what you wanna do. And those main vehicles that you have are upgradable, you can customise the weapons and loadouts a bit.

Rage 2 is due Spring 2019 on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. While you wait, be sure to check out the Gamescom 2018 hands-on preview posted by Chris in early September.