COSMICPUP STUDIO, a studio controlled by Tencent Games, revealed at the showcase ID@XBOX Ordinary Oddness, an open-world action RPG developed in Unreal Engine 5 and presented as a crazy action-RPG, where nothing is ordinary. The game does not yet have a release date, but we can already admire it in a short trailer and a full-bodied reveal of 22 minutes.

The theater of the adventure will be Elysian Skies, a metropolis suspended in the clouds and steeped in pop culture, where urban legends are no longer simple ingredients for horror stories, but real laws that govern the city. Here the unusual is simply common sense, and human beings coexist with the Mythoids, sentient creatures that are born when dimensional energy merges with objects, digital data, geographical places or with the human subconscious. Far from being distant folkloric figures, the Mythoids are to all intents and purposes our neighbors: among those shown we find Mayor Yeahman, a Y-shaped talking speaker, and the Mythoid Candy Robot, a candy dispenser that turns into a boss fight.

This coexistence is at the center of Mythoid Day, the great annual parade that celebrates the bond between humans and Mythoids and with which the trailer opens. In the role of a Consulting Investigator we will be able to experience it firsthand, receiving sweets from the creatures and witnessing a very long procession of hundreds of Mythoids that brings the celebrations to the climax, in an absurd, lively and fun atmosphere but crossed by a strangeness that is difficult to define.

The city will be divided into distinct neighborhoods, such as the residential area of Breezeway Lane, the neon-lit Golden Fantasia and the Undercity, a lawless place invaded by vegetation. Hidden among the streets will then be the Psycheidos Zones, distorted and surreal dimensions where gravity changes, reality is deformed and buried memories take the form of physical labyrinths.

Our journey will begin in an agency with a completely anonymous appearance. As investigators certified by the Mythoids Investigation Agency, the MIA, we will take care of seemingly trivial assignments commissioned by both humans and Mythoids at any time. Completing these City Commissions will provide us with the resources to grow our detective agency and expand the combat skill trees, but slowly we will discover that those cases are uncovering the secrets hidden behind the coexistence between the two species. The investigation will lead us to Luminar, a mysterious figure linked to the protagonist's past, and to the conspiracy that revolves around the Nightingale Theater. The trailer shows just one chapter of the main story: the hunt for Luminar, the forced dragging into a Psycheidos Zone built from an obsession, and the cruel memories of the past that resurface along the tracks, with each step in the case revealing a little more of the true face of the city.

On the combat front, in real time, Ordinary Oddness focuses on a dynamic system built around the choices of those who wield the pad, in which the different mechanics interact with each other. We will lead a team composed among others by Sia, director of MIA, mechanical genius Luka and Byakko, warrior of the Moonkind lineage, each with elemental abilities. By switching from one to the other without interruption we will be able to chain attacks, take advantage of the synergies between elements and perform combined moves, while in defense we will have cover, perfect dodges, blocks and parries, the latter useful for opening openings for the counterattack. The trailer includes two distinct combat sequences, each focused on its own mechanics.

Particular attention has been paid to the bosses, i.e. the altered Mythoids, whose appearance and story are closely linked to the fighting style: the rules of the clash will change according to the characteristics of each one, and between multiple forms and constantly evolving mechanics we will be forced to adapt our tactics on the fly, without a single correct solution. Among the examples shown is a group of eight puppets capable of coordinated attacks that require precise timing, while victories can end with cinematic execution sequences.

The Unreal Engine 5 was used for settings, characters and cutscenes, and every moment of the trailer was made with Epic's engine, taking care of direction, lighting and music in parallel. The developers particularly emphasize the lighting and reflections along the streets, the expressiveness of the faces and the disturbing ripple of the air that accompanies the appearance of a Mythoid. In the climax of the film, the scene suddenly deforms, anomalies explode and the action moves seamlessly from the crowded streets to the sinister ruins of the Nightingale Theater.

According to the studio, the trailer represents only the first installment of a much larger investigation, with many other urban mysteries yet to be revealed in a city where being normal is the rarest oddity of all. We now leave you with the announcement trailer and the extended reveal: enjoy!