Stephen Totilo reported via Game File that the Perfect Dark reboot recently added a new Creative Director: Brian Horton. He’s an industry veteran with credits dating back all the way to Disney: Pocahontas, released in 1996 for the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive console.
Most of his credits are in the art department. He was, for instance, the Senior Art Director for Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider while at Crystal Dynamics. Horton then switched to a Creative Director position when he did a couple of years at Infinity Ward and kept the same role when he joined Insomniac to work on Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. More recently, he was the creative director of the upcoming game Marvel’s Wolverine, which Horton discussed briefly three years ago. Given that the Perfect Dark game is largely being developed at Crystal Dynamics in a joint venture with The Initiative, this is a return home for Horton. An Xbox spokesperson told Game File:
Brian Horton will be bringing his wealth of experience to the upcoming reboot of the classic secret agent series.
We finally got our first look at the game during this Summer’s Xbox Games Showcase. The gameplay trailer was definitely promising and we also learned a few concrete details. The developers have taken inspiration from elements of the first two installments while creating an entirely new story and universe for the reboot.
Perfect Dark will be a single-player experience with a set of missions that offer various choices on how players complete them. Traversal and gadgets are going to be very important. The focus was on creating an intuitive movement system to let players find interesting ways to tackle their tasks. The combat system has been designed to allow for both melee and gunplay, stealth, and gadgets. Supposedly, the development teams want to blend elements from first-person shooters, immersive simulations, and stealth games into a cohesive whole, delivering a complete secret agent fantasy.
Perfect Dark doesn’t have a release date yet, but it will launch on PC and Xbox Series S|X. As all games developed by studios owned by Microsoft, it will be available on Game Pass from day one. As for Marvel’s Wolverine, Horton has been replaced by Marcus Smith as the new Creative Director for Insomniac’s game.
