A new Hob trailer is out this week, featuring a smattering of new gameplay from the upcoming action-adventure game. The new clip also gives us a launch timeline for the long-awaited project. And it turns out the Hob release date is much closer than we realized.
Hob is an upcoming action adventure from Runic Games, the studio behind Torchlight and Torchlight 2, that follows a silent protagonist as he explores a world that isn’t his own. We won’t know the character’s name, or why/how he’s awoken in a world that’s falling apart, but Runic says we’ll learn more about both by the end of the game. Hob will mesh exploration-based and platform-centric puzzles with occasional combat encounters. It also has a pretty unique take on world-building, which the Torchlight team took rather literally in Hob.
What’s interesting is the way Runic manages to emphasize both the action and puzzle aspects of Hob’s core gameplay loop without making one feel more important than the other. Combat is taken seriously enough for the team to include an upgrade path, for Hob’s weapon, but there are whole sections of the map that will remain inaccessible if you don’t solve the puzzles that allow them to be raised or lowered back to their proper place.
We got a chance to play Hob for a few minutes, during PAX East 2016 last March, and came away from that experience optimistic about the next project from Runic Games. Hob’s silent protagonist was a nice change of pace for a character-focused action game. It’ll be the player’s job to uncover the hero’s mysterious past and we’re looking forward to learning why the world is in such a “ massive state of disrepair,” as Runic’s Minister of Culture described it to us last year.
For an early look at Hob, along with some of the people and places we’ll encounter in Runic Games’ next project, take a few minutes to check out the game’s release date announcement trailer. Then head down to the comments and let us know if you plan to explore Hob when the game hits PC and PS4 next month.
Hob is in development for PlayStation 4 and PC. The game debuts Sept. 26.
Be sure to check back with Player.One and follow Scott on Twitter for more Hob news in 2017 and however long Runic continues to support Hob in the months following launch.
