X02 Europe: Sudeki announced

At its X02 Europe press conference in Spain today, Microsoft announced that UK-based developer Climax has been working on a new RPG called Sudeki for the past two years. Few details were released about the game, but an in-game engine-powered movie shown at the event hinted at there being an immense world to explore, which perhaps, a little like that in the Soul Reaver games, has both a dark and a light side.

Players will take control of four characters simultaneously, and although no names have been revealed at the time of writing, we know that the party consists of a sultry wizardess, a soaring gunslinger, a powerful swordsman, and a dark shape-shifting huntress. The game's combat will all be in real time, and Microsoft is promising that it will be very cinematic, thanks to special effects such as slow-motion bullet-time and the massive number of spells and weapons that will be at the player's disposal. While dealing with hordes of more than 100 different types of enemies, characters in the game will also have access to a number of cooperative super-strikes where they combine their strengths with devastating results.

Sudeki is being developed exclusively for the Xbox and is scheduled for release in time for Christmas 2003. We'll bring you more information on the game as it becomes available.