Bethesda has announced Rage 2 today. Along with the announcement comes the trailer below. It shows no gameplay, instead being a montage of real-life actors portraying the Rage world’s bandits. Gameplay will be revealed tomorrow. No release date has been revealed.
The game will be a sequel to the 2011 original. The original game began development by id Software when they were still independent, and was to be published by EA games. Though the EA deal was meant to be honored even after Bethesda’s purchase of id in 2009, Rage would eventually be published by Bethesda in late 2011.
There is no display of id’s logo in the Rage 2 trailer, so it can be assumed that Rage 2 is being developed by Bethesda and not necessarily by their id Software studios. This is in contrast to DOOM or Dishonored 2, which were advertised from the start as an id Software or an Arkane Studios game, respectively.
The original Rage was an attempt by id to distance themselves from their corridor-shooter style. Their subsequent title after Doom 3, Rage was set in a wasteland with a heavy emphasis on both driving and shooting. The game also featured sidequests and a quasi-open world design.
The arsenal included a shotgun and a rocket launcher, so it was very much still id flavored, and the game had shooting-focused segments the developer is known for. However, players could upgrade their weapons and their vehicles, and each had multiple ammo types, giving the game some firsts for the FPS-focused studio.
If the fiction remains the same, Rage will continue as a post-apocalyptic wasteland shooter for Bethesda in addition to Fallout.
