A video game character played by Will Smith will guide players on a post-apocalyptic journey in “Undawn,” an open-world survival game that will be available for free on mobile and PC next month.
A trailer released Wednesday by the game’s developers shows Smith, who plays Trey Jones, running through a town littered with rubble and gunning down enemies with a playful smile on his face.
In the multiplayer game, the survivors of a global disaster are divided into factions, each with their own rules of survival. Players are assigned to the Raven Squad and face off against Clowns, Eagles, Night Owls, and Reivers to establish territories and hold boundaries in an effort to reach the dawn, according to a plot synopsis.
Players are equipped with a variety of armor and weapons, including pistols, decoy bombs, axes, spears, knives, katanas, and drones. As Trey, Smith helps players understand and navigate the world they’ve found themselves in four years after a disaster. Together with Trey, players explore mines, plains, swamps, and abandoned cities, each with their own potential dangers.
Survivors face dangerous weather conditions including rain, thunderstorms, snow, and extreme heat, while monitoring their health to ensure their survival.
Feng Zhu, the game’s art director, previously worked on design concepts for movies in the “Transformers,” “Star Wars,” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” series. In a short documentary on the game’s design, Zhu said his vision for the art style centered on the concept of an “urban forest”, contrasting what the world looked like before the disaster with the desolate environment players see when they start the game. for the first time. game.”
Although Trey is an original character, fans have speculated that he is loosely based on Robert Neville, Smith’s character in the 2007 thriller “I Am Legend.” The movie marked Smith’s first foray into a post-apocalyptic universe, complete with greedy mutants looking to destroy each other to survive, Polygon reported.
Smith, a West Philadelphia native whose lead role on the 1990s sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” helped propel the hip-hop artist to global stardom, is no stranger to deviating from the traditional film and television roles. In recent years, Smith has published a memoir, started vlogging on YouTube, and started making videos on TikTok. “Undawn” marks the first appearance of him in a video game.
Last year, Smith co-produced and starred in “Emancipation,” an AppleTV+ movie about a runaway slave trying to survive a trip to Baton Rouge. The film, which has a 45% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, earned Smith an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture earlier this year.
“Undawn” will be available on iOS, Android, and PC devices on Thursday, June 15. Those who pre-register for the game can gain access to in-game rewards before it goes live. Check out the official trailer for the game below.
