We haven’t seen much actual gameplay of Ubisoft’s surprise toys-to-life game, Starlink: Battle for Atlas. Today they released a lengthy gameplay demo that shows a solid chunk of gameplay, including space battles, completing missions on a planet, and swapping out weapons on the physical starship toy.
Starlink: Battle for Atlas is arriving on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch on October 16
The gameplay looks like a mixture of No Man’s Sky, Star Fox, and Skylanders. You can choose between several different pilots, each with their own special abilities, as well as a spaceship. The ships are sold as physical figures, like skylanders and amiibo, that are digitally scanned into the game.
During gameplay, you can switch a ship’s guns to different styles and elements, such as ice and fire. An Ice weapon is more effective against a fire-based enemy. Enemies appear in both ship form in space and as monstrous aliens on a planet. Judging by the gameplay demo, players can seamlessly enter a planet from space to complete missions and fight back against the Forgotten Legion.
At one point the demo shows a gate that requires two different elemental weapons to open up. This is very similar to the elemental gates that Skylanders often employed, requiring certain types of purchased figures in order to access all of the game’s content. Instead of opening up an entire level, however, this is more like a chest that contains some loot.
During E3 2018, Ubisoft revealed that the Switch version of Starlink will feature Fox McCloud from the Star Fox series, as well as his villainous rival Wolf. Switch players will also get to fly in Fox’s signature Arwing spaceship.
Starlink: Battle for Atlas is out October 16. It’s rated E10+ for fantasy violence.
