In 1999, the long-lasting New York rap group Wu-Tang Clan launched their very first online game, Wu-Tang: Shaolin Type. Now, 25 years later, the Wu have returned with a brand new sport venture known as Wu-Tang: Rise of the Deceiver. Introduced concurrently at Summer season Recreation Fest and on the opening efficiency of the group’s farewell tour, Rise of the Deceiver is a part of the apotheosis of one of many biggest rap teams of all time.
The Verge had the chance to talk to the sport’s builders at Brass Lion Leisure about working with a few of rap’s dwelling legends on a venture that’s each the tip of an period in rap historical past and the start of one thing new.
Rise of the Deceiver is an motion co-op sport through which gamers, imbued with powers bestowed upon them by the legendary members of the Wu-Tang Clan, struggle in opposition to invaders that want to corrupt their house. It’s been in growth for 3 years, and began as a companion piece to Angel of Mud, a film produced by Ghostface Killah and directed by The RZA.
“What we did is we leaned into parts of that script that labored actually, very well from an interactive perspective, and made a companion piece to it,” mentioned Bryna Dabby Smith co-founder and CEO of Brass Lion Leisure.
In line with Dabby Smith, the driving ethos behind Rise of the Deceiver is actually, “do it for the tradition.” Whereas there have been quite a few hip-hop-centric video video games over time, only a few of them sort out the artistry, historical past, and tradition of the style past utilizing it as set dressing. “We needed to create one thing the place it was constructed from the bottom up,” Dabby Smith mentioned. “It was by the tradition, for the tradition, and truly representing what [Wu-Tang Clan] put on the market via the years.”
And for the sport’s soundtrack, which includes music from all through the group’s 30-plus 12 months historical past, it actually was constructed from the bottom up.
“For us, the therapy of the music was a very large deal,” mentioned Dabby Smith. It’s not simply snippets of “C.R.E.A.M” or “Shield Ya Neck” enjoying throughout cutscenes. She talked about how their sound group created a dynamic music system.
“So while you’re enjoying the sport, the music is reacting to what you’re doing and it’s fully distinctive to your enjoying expertise.” Moreover, gamers will expertise Wu-Tang’s discography in methods they’ve by no means heard earlier than.
“It’s not simply the standard songs that you just’ve heard. It’s remix variations. It’s orchestral variations,” Dabby Smith mentioned. There are even completely new tracks within the sport that incorporate Wu-Tang samples to make one thing distinctive however nonetheless acquainted to followers’ ears.
“Hip-hop is a syncretic artwork type. It takes items of issues which have existed elsewhere and mashes them collectively in distinctive methods,” mentioned Evan Narcisse, a former online game journalist who labored as a author on the venture. “We’re doing the identical factor.”
Rise of the Deceiver is supposed to enchantment to every kind of online game followers, not simply 30-something hip-hop heads. There’s one thing for everybody. And in case you are a 30-something hip-hop head, this sport will likely be a love letter to one of many biggest musical acts in a era.
“The Wu Tang Clan are bigger than life,” mentioned Narcisse. ”They’re superheroes, and so they deserve a world that speaks that legacy.”