PAX East 2015: Gigantic

Gigantic is named for its gigantic Guardians that are protected by five heroes (that’s you and four friends). Gigantic is part shooter, brawler, and action RPG. Breaking Gigantic down to size, you’ll find the objective of each match is easy, kill the other team’s Guardian. You can go about it in a couple different ways, but the most important thing is to make sure your Guardian is stronger than your opponent’s.

Gigantic offers a character for virtually every playstyle. If you’re into stealth, you can sneak into the other team’s base and steal their Guardian’s power right from its heart! Or you can just brawl it out, killing enemy heroes to power up your Guardian. As the match progresses, your character’s abilities can be upgraded to ensure you stay in the lead. Gigantic’s character skill trees differ from more traditional approaches (ie. League of Legends). For instance, Gigantic has skills that will allow you to remove recoil, slow down enemies with shots, or upgrade your weapon with armor piercing shots. Of course every character has a different skill tree, but each skill tree is so expansive that even the same character on opposite teams can play that character completely different.

In addition to leveling up a character, you can also control points on the map which will spawn creatures at a regular interval. Like characters, control points can also be upgraded to unleash more brutal creatures on your enemies. Having a few control points and strong creatures can really turn the tide in a match.

Regardless of how well or bad your team plays, the battle will always end up in the middle of the map, ten heroes and two Guardians in an all-out war. This finale will either put the losing team out of its misery, or the losing team can strategize to stage a spectacular comeback. It sounds amazing and trust me it is, after playing just one match it’s hard to stop.

Jack sat down with Chris Chung (CEO, Motiga), for a quick talk about everything Gigantic (there might be some gameplay scattered in there too). Thanks to Chris for taking time out of his busy PAX East schedule to do an interview. A few highlights from the interview:

• Gigantic’s microtransactions will be purely cosmetic, at no point will Gigantic ever be pay-to-win
• All player and character data are saved on Gigantic’s servers, and will work on either platform. Feel free to play on Xbox One at home, then fire up a Windows 10 laptop while on vacation
• Cross-platform play is optional. Each player can turn it on or off depending on their preference
• Beta will most likely be in Summer 2015 (Q2/Q3 2015)

Gigantic is a cross-platform title (Windows 10, Xbox One) set to launch alongside Windows 10 in Fall 2015 (Q3/Q4 2015). Xbox One players may have to wait a little longer, but Motiga is going to do the best they can for a simultaneous launch on both platforms.