inFamous: Second Son, You Say?

So, there was that whole PS4 thing tonight, which was -actually- the announcement of the PS4 as we all thought it would be, but I'm not going to talk about it tonight.  I need time to reflect on it, to digest it, before I actually figure out what I think about it, now that some of the things are more or less set in stone for it.  In the meantime, however, instead of gushing on and on about REVENGEANCE some more (which I could totally do), I am instead going to talk about this one thing that I've picked out from the entire PS4 thing.  The reason for this one is pretty obvious, as I am a man who loves some inFamous, so a new game announced in the series is cause for celebration.  This is the point where I would usually, you know, go "But" or "Except" because I have built it up and then you know, blam, gotta break it down a little.

I'm not going to do that however.  Because I am legitimately happy that another inFamous game is going to come out and, while I might have some reservations about the trailer, it is definitively another inFamous game nonetheless. Sucker Punch's forays into the genre have been fruitful in the past and with the evolution the series took between inFamous and inFamous 2, I can't -not- let my hopes get up, even if just a little bit.  I -know- there's quality here already, since their hands are the ones molding whatever this ends up being, and they've not disappointed in the past, even when, by all means they could have.  So for that, I have my hopes, I have my excitement, and I can grin and enjoy myself knowing that inFamous as a series is going to be something that continues.

My reservations come into play with a few things, however.  First up is with the new character, Delsin Rowe.  The name, of course, means absolutely nothing, not being something of import from the previous games, and there's very little about him to tell beyond what's in the trailer and the little excerpt from the description, which I will share.

Surrounded by a society that fears them, superhumans are ruthlessly hunted down and caged by the Department of Unified Protection. When Delsin Rowe discovers his powers he's forced to run, searching for other superhumans in order to save those he loves from the oppressive D.U.P. now hot on his tail. The choices he makes along the way change the future of everyone around him.

The one thing that is known about him is that he seems to be a Fire-themed Conduit.  Whether that's just one facet of his powers (could be), I have always associated inFamous as a concept with electricity.  Even before I picked up the first game and loved it, let that ingrain into my mind, it was electricity.  Hell, that's part of the reason I was drawn to it - I just like the concept of that as a super-power to be honest, and the myriad of ways inFamous and its sequel used that did nothing but astound me and grow on the affinity that was already there.  While I know on several levels that Fire can be utilized in similarly wonderful ways (as inFamous 2 showed us) it's...well, it's not Electricity.  It's not a deal-breaker for me, but it's something I'm not super-duper excited for either.

The other thing, obviously, is that Delsin is not Cole who was a pretty badass character all-told.  Ever since inFamous 2, it's been weird to consider a third in the series considering the way 2 ended (both endings, no I'm not spoiling anything) because both gave a sort of completeness to Cole's story, even if both also left ways to further expand it.  There was also the wondering of just which ending would be the 'canon' ending, since they were...quite different as opposed to the original.  Even still, with a new character and a new suite of powers, we still have to wonder which ending they'll pick for this continuation...if it's a continuation at all.

I'm not saying the word 'reboot' or 'reimaging', but it's possible that this is just a different world, a different set of circumstances and that Cole MacGrath is a character that never existed in this one.  I...wouldn't actually mind that, actually, if this is just a new tale told on much the same roots, as it were.  Besides, it -does- lend itself to some other shenanigans as well, using a different storyline entirely if they wanted to ramp things up into -real- comic book super-hero territory.  I don't want to say what's going on in my head at the moment, but it's definitely got me going 'hmmmmm' and in a good way.  Still, same universe or new, it's a new inFamous game, one with Sucker Punch at the helm and I have no doubt that it's going to be pretty damn amazing.  I'm curious and excited, if nothing else, which is hard to do these days, despite how it may seem.