Hideki Kamiya is perhaps the most outspoken video game designer in the whole industry. He's known not only for his great work on games like Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Okami, Bayonetta and The Wonderful 101, but also because he often makes unpredictable statements - social media (Twitter) included.
Metro GameCentral was able to interview Kamiya-san at E3 2016 and once again, he didn't disappoint in this regard. He stated without half measure that this year's E3 highlighted the currently huge difference between Western and Japanese games; he then added which titles in particular caught his eye in Los Angeles.
But to kind of shift gears a little bit, I can’t really talk down to Western games at all. I really think they’re kind of setting the pillars for the quality of this generation. Every time I come to E3 I kind of look around and it’s like, ‘Wow, those games are really good!’ But this year in particular, the general level of quality of the games and the gap between what the West is doing and what Japan is doing is enormous. And it really left an impression on me.
Specifically, Horizon looks amazing. Forza Horizon 3 is great, I’m a huge fan of that. And Days Gone looks really cool too. And I’m really looking forward to seeing God Of War, just from an action game perspective.
Kamiya seems to have good taste, as those were among the most popular games demonstrated at E3 2016. As for his next game, Scalebound is due in 2017 for Windows 10 and Xbox One.
An action RPG where players can explore the world (for the first time in a title by Platinum Games) of Draconis, Scalebound features Drew and his dragon companion, Thuban, as the main characters. The dragon can be ridden and customized, and the entire campaign will be playable in co-op multiplayer with up to four players.