Earlier today, Ubisoft UK released two YouTube videos about the upcoming Starlink: Battle for Atlas. One video explores more of the title’s main story, whilst the other presents a tutorial for those curious about how the title and its ‘toys to life’ component will work.
The cinematic opens with the Starlink Initiative vessel, the Equinox, entering the Atlas star system via a wormhole gateway. After the crew celebrates the arrival at the little-known system, the Equinox’s captain, St. Grand, expresses hope that an artifact supposedly located somewhere within the system might be ‘the breakthrough’ the Initiative needs. But the arrival of the ship doesn’t go un-noticed; Grax, the leader of a militant Forgotten Legion, attacks the ship and kidnaps St. Grand, and attempts to extract the secret of making Nova – an energy source that makes inter-system flight possible – from him. Recovering from the attack and isolated, the crew vows to rescue their captain, and band together with Atlas system natives against the Legion. Gameplay footage follows.
Although not everything is clarified in the trailer, it is likely that this ‘Nova’ is not something that the Starlink Initiative itself makes, or at least, fully understands – if St. John knew how to make it, the game would be over quite quickly. It is possible Nova is related the the Starlink pilot, Judge, an amnesiac alien composed entirely of suspiciously Nova-like liquid, and supposedly a native to the Atlas system. This artifact they were looking for could be related to better understanding the properties of Nova, perhaps?
The second video explains that players can use the ‘toys to life aspect’ to mix pilots, parts, and weapons to create unique ship combinations. Players first mount a special holder on their controller, which their desired pilot will slot into. Players then attach the base of the desired ship over the pilot, and swap the wings to those of their preference. The wings have slots where weapon replicas may be installed; simple attach the weapons as desired, and you will be able to play with your created combination in game. Weapons can be installed to face forward, or even backwards to cover the rear whilst fighting. Weapon types can also play off of each other for extra effect – an ice weapon and a flamethrower were shown in combination to destabilise the enemy’s temperature via thermal shock.
Each pilot comes with their own unique skills to add an extra layer to the game’s strategy – for example Chase is one of the fastest pilots available, whilst Judge can trigger an ability to slow down time temporarily. The game also features a local co-op mode. And whilst it was not directly stated in game, the repeated use of the term ‘swiping between ships’, and the ship selection gallery suggests an ability to register ships and combinations without having to plug them in each time.
Starlink: Battle for Atlas releases on October 16th, for the Xbox One, Playstation 4, and Nintendo Switch. Starter Kit Editions containing the title and one complete pilot/ship combo exist for all consoles, with the Nintendo Switch Starter Kit featuring system exclusive pilot, Fox McCloud.