BIONICLE: Masks of Power Gameplay Preview
It’s been one year since we released the first teaser trailer for BIONICLE: Masks of Power. Since then, we at Team Kanohi have been very hard at work behind the scenes, and have been eager to be able to show off even more of the game. Today, we’re proud to release our combat gameplay reveal, giving you the first ever look at the combat and gameplay of BIONICLE: Masks of Power. In addition to this exciting reveal, we’re also releasing the Team Kanohi Parts Pack, a collection of all of the 3D models of Bionicle parts we’ve created or modified for use in BIONICLE: Masks of Power. We have a lot of very exciting things to show off today, so let’s get started with the combat gameplay reveal.
Firstly, we’re very happy to announce that BIONICLE: Masks of Power is being developed in Unreal Engine 5! We’re very excited to be able to take advantage of the new features that UE5 has to offer in BIONICLE: Masks of Power.
There are four gameplay pillars that we try to center our game design around: Combat, Exploration, Platforming, and Puzzle Solving. This video focuses primarily on the Combat gameplay pillar. Combat in BIONICLE: Masks of Power is heavily inspired by games like Nier: Automata, Monster Hunter, and The Legend of Zelda, while being its own unique BIONICLE-flavored combat experience.
There are two unique melee attack combos you can perform as each Toa: light attacks and heavy attacks. Variations of these attacks appear during different movement states, and can be chained together to deliver consistent damage to foes. It has been a steady progression from the combat in our Legacy version, to the prototype design in Trials of the Great Spirit, to where we are today!
In addition to your standard light and heavy combos, there are also powerful elemental attacks that each Toa can use. These elemental attacks also have their own variations, so be sure to experiment with each character’s abilities! In the combat reveal, you can see some of Lewa’s elemental attacks being used: ranged elemental attacks and an elemental dash attack. There will be completely unique and varied elemental attacks for all six Toa.
We’d also like to draw attention to the UI shown off in the combat reveal, beginning with the HUD. That isn’t just a 2D image that’s placed in the top left corner of the screen: it is a 3D model that’s rendered in-engine along with the rest of the game. What this means is that the health bar will dynamically interact with the lighting of the world around you. As you move the camera or go into darker areas, the lighting on your health bar will react accordingly, providing a deeper level of detail as you explore Mata Nui. The Mask Wheel is also rendered in real-time, and will even rotate as you select different masks!
We wanted the UI/UX for Masks of Power to feel cool, creative, and to overall aim for the same design goals as the original designers of the franchise. Interactivity and diegetic interfaces are a big part of the original 2001 marketing campaign, and it's rooted in the DNA of BIONICLE. Hopefully you agree that we reached the same design goals, and we're eager to share more of the creative UI experiences we have in store for you!
Next, we’d like to highlight one specific aspect of the dialogue shown at the beginning of the gameplay reveal: the voice acting. BIONICLE: Masks of Power will feature voice acting for all characters, and this is just a small taste of what you can expect to hear in the full game. We’ve partnered with Bionicle fan and linguist Outofgloom, creator of the Matoric conlang, and will be using the Matoran Language scripts that he created for the voiceover you’ll hear in the game!
Finally, we’d like to talk about the Team Kanohi Parts Pack, and some of the work that’s gone into modeling all the parts that will appear in BIONICLE: Masks of Power.
We are publicly releasing the 3D models of each Bionicle piece that has been modeled for use in BIONICLE: Masks of Power for free. Many of the models for these parts were taken from Bricklink’s Stud.io program, and heavily modified by members of our team for increased set accuracy and optimization for use in Unreal Engine. This parts pack includes over 190 different pieces, all fully textured for use in any engine or project that you want to use them for. We’re very excited to show off all of the work that we’ve put into each individual piece, and hope that others will be able to use them for projects of their own.
You can download the Parts Pack here: https://spiritforge.maskofdestiny.com/play/downloads/Team%20Kanohi%20Parts%20Pack.zip
All of us at Team Kanohi would like to say thank you to everyone who’s supported us this past year as we’ve continued to work on BIONICLE: Masks of Power. If you’re interested in hearing more news about the project, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to stay up-to-date on all the latest announcements, or join our Discord server to chat with some of our developers, and even see some exclusive behind-the-scenes content.
Thank you for reading, and may the Great Spirit guide you.