Ryse originally had PvP combat

Ryse: Son of Rome, the upcoming Xbox One launch title, originally had PvP combat before it got scrapped, with producer Mike Read saying to Polygon, “We tried the whole PvP thing but it really wasn’t fun, so we decided to move it over to waves of gladiatorial combat; but there are no lions or tigers.”

Instead, the team at Crytek implemented a Gladiator: Blood Brothers co-op mode that pits the player with another player as they survive rounds of enemies and complete objectives in a Colosseum. The mode, according to Crytek, is very reliant on the ability to coordinate attacks with your partner and using execution perks to each others’ advantage. They also claim matches will last between 10-30 minutes depending on the difficulty.

Mike Read also detailed SmartGlass integration, with the entire menu replicated onto SmartGlass, meaning no worries about backing out of the game to do something else. According to Read, it isn’t mandatory but it is “more of an additive. It is not a mandatory thing where you are missing out on something. So having this where it is sitting right in front of you, you can also access all of the other Microsoft [Xbox Live] menus while you are playing the game, so you can chat with people, not breaking [out of] the game.”

He continued by saying, “Say you are watching a movie and you say ‘Hey, I want to play a multiplayer match,’ you can go into the app, start the process and it will automatically cue you in when it is ready,” he said. “It is not a forced element we are not making you use it, it is just a good little addition.”

According to Read, users can also customize challenges through SmartGlass and/or Ryse.

He also clarified about microtransactions, saying, “This is in a co-op environment, you can still earn all of this stuff by playing through the game, it was for those people who don’t have the time and want the cool stuff. It is not like you are getting a PvP advantage.”