On Friday, during Geoff Keighley’s Summer of Suffering Games Fest, Blue and I were watching in our living room when a trailer came up from Bandai Namco. We couldn’t really tell what it was at first, but one of us did ask, “Gundam?” as we saw what looked like an outer space sci-fi setting contrasting with nature that seemed… like a space colony?
But then we saw a giant alien tentacle and our upright posture slouched. It’s probably a new IP, or a sequel to something we haven’t played. Looks neat though. Maybe an Armored Core spinoff? Felt very Gundam-coded, with lines like “Every breath we take is inside an armored shell.” Something about the setting design and single human character’s costuming felt… Gundam-y.
Then we got the closeup to some f***ing awesome metal riff:
So what IS this game…?
I have no earthly idea.
It seems, to me, to be an original story. Feel free to hop into the comments our join our discord to tell me I’m wrong, but this doesn’t feel like a reference to any Gundam lore that I know of. But there are definite Universal Century vibes from the general look to the newtype lasers hovering around the main suit. I feel like this is going to be loosely UC-adjacent but entirely separate, where instead of fighting a war against other humans, you’re taking on… alien…monster…things?
Don’t overthink it, it looks cool.
Its existence, as it’s currently advertised, does bring up the question of ‘what constitutes a Gundam game?‘ Because while the cinematics were very cool and the gameplay seems compelling and action-y, if you simply take out the Haro at the end and remove the title card, one could be forgiven for thinking this has nothing to do with Gundam and is, instead, a new IP with very loose homages to Gundam in some visual designs. Is that the point? After catering to Gundam series diehards for Gundam Evolution and, apparently, failing as a business venture, are they trying to diversify their videogame output by slapping the Gundam franchise onto different genres entirely?
And am I saying “Gundam” too much in on paragraph?
So who’s this guy…?
The trailer wants to make the character we’re playing as sound very important.
You're our last hope. The darkness coming for us remembers one man:
The pilot.
They also shade over his face so we can’t see him. So is he a reference to a series? Is this AU shenanigans like over in GQuuuuuuX where we see old characters in new lights? Is that why he’s vaguely Amuro-coded?
Well we see the full character’s face in the official artwork, so, probably not. I think. That’s not anyone I recognize:
Now, the game’s official synopsis also puts a lot of weight on the pilot without revealing who he is. It could be that they’re hiding his identity for a surprise later, or it could be that this is supposed to be a self-insert with character customization and everything. Would explain the shading over his face.
BECOME THE PILOT YOU WERE BORN TO BE
Change humanity’s fate in GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT, a high-mobility action game that delivers a bold new take on Gundam, blending a fast-paced cinematic story with intense, hard-hitting combat in an all-new universe.
“Born to be” feels like intentional phrasing, like your pilot’s backstory will be integral to the plot. Like he’s a JRPG protagonist or something. And “all-new universe” could mean exactly what it means at face value: an entirely separate timeline with nothing to do with anything. But I feel like that’s just marketing buzzwords rather than something intentional from the developers meant to tell us more about the game. My guess is it’s still UC-adjacent with some major deviation point that led to… giant alien monsters.
While I’m still a bit hesitant to shill for the company that killed our channel once, I know that a lot of you all (Blue very much included) are chomping at the bit for this game after seeing it. And I will admit… it looks pretty f***ing cool. So I’ll be watching for updates ahead of Gundam Rogue Orbit‘s 2027 release alongside all of you. Maybe they’ll tell us more about wtf this game even is.
