E3 2014: D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die Hands On

Swery65 captured a lot of people's attention with the very Twin Peaks inspired Deadly Premonition. What does to mind behind one of the most divisive games of the last generation do to follow it up? D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die is Hidetaka Suehiro's Xbox One debut, and it looks and plays just as strangely as his last game, which I mean in the best possible way.

The easiest way to summarize D4 is to consider it the next evolution of the point and click adventure, utilizing the Kinect sensor in a way that makes sense, but for those who can't get behind motion controlled gameplay, there is the option for a controller. Players grab objects in the game world to inspect and find clues to solve a cold case involving the hero's deceased wife. There are also motion controlled quick time events, one of which raps up the demo as the hero dodges a random assortment of dishware from a woman named Amanda, who is a character to say the least.

Access Games has a dodgy history of game visuals and performance, but D4 looked like it had all the makings of a AAA title. This game has a rather striking visual style with some beautiful cel-shading work, and it wouldn't be a Swery65 game if we didn't talk about the voice acting, which was surprisingly solid.

D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die will be an episodic title, with the first launching later this year. Honestly I was starting to get a little apprehensive about this title after seeing it relegated to the Microsoft sizzle reel at the end of their conference. Having played the game though, I may have finally found the title that gets me on board with the Xbox One.