Sunset TV – the semi-regular online show that also appears in-game on Xbox One exclusive Sunset Overdrive – revealed a tantalizing glimpse of rare pre-production concept footage; a small sneak peek of what the game played like before it became that mutant-loving, post-apocalyptic wasteland of pure, hilarious insanity.
According to previous Sunset TV footage, it took around three years to complete the full version of Sunset Overdrive. That’s one year of pre production with a small team figuring out the pieces of what will fit into the full game; and two additional years taking those blueprints, along with a much larger team and creating the final version.
Unsurprisingly, the rough-cut footage is nearly lifeless – with most features present in today’s version practically nonexistent; such as traversal challenges and fast paced action. Original challenges started out with the main character accomplishing skilled kills, such as a certain amount of assault rifle kills, then head shots, then pistol kills, etc. Completing those challenges would raise the player’s score and level.
Everyone who has played Sunset Overdrive will recall the Style Meter. By accomplishing grinds, jumps, and/or wall runs with kills the Traversal Meter would gradually fill, allowing the character to eventually unlock skills such as lightning bolts falling from the sky or pillars of fire rising from the ground.
Early concepts of the Style Meter can be seen as a black bar at the top of the screen that would gradually build up. Building up the bar could be done by jumping on trampolines, mattresses, cars, etc. (luckily the mattresses made it into the full version!) After the bar filled, the character could unleash certain powers, such as extreme speed running.
Checkout below for the full Sunset TV episode and what has been shown so far with pre production early on in Sunset Overdrive.
Aaron Main was a community contributor to ICXM, writing 2 articles in 2014–2015 covering Xbox news. ICXM operated as an independent Xbox and Windows gaming outlet through the Xbox One’s first full year of post-launch coverage, including the early days of Backwards Compatibility and Windows 10 gaming, drawing from a rotating bench of editorial volunteers. They post on X as @AaronXboxMad.