ReCore is an action-adventure and platform video game developed by Comcept and Armature Studio, with assistance from Asobo Studio, and published by Microsoft Studios for Windows and Xbox One. The game was released worldwide in September 2016 and re-released in August 2017.
The story tracks Joule Adams, one of the first volunteers for the utopian colony of Far Eden, who wakes after centuries in cryo-sleep to find that nothing has gone according to plan. With her three robotic machines known as corebot companions, Joule ventures throughout Far Eden to uncover the secrets behind the failed mission. The open world of Far Eden is subject to exploration and the collection of resources. Joule's weapons are color-coded to inflict damage on a particular set of enemies and, like her companions, can also be enhanced. The corebots support her in battle and puzzle solving.
Development began in 2014. The game was directed by Mark Pacini, written by Joseph Staten and conceptualized by Keiji Inafune. Mega Man and Metroid were significant influences in its creation. The development was divided between Armature Studio and Comcept into their own distinctive proficiencies, while Asobo Studio assisted. ReCore received mixed reviews, the most critical of which noted insufficient design choices, technical issues regarding lengthy and unsuccessful loading screens and repetitive combat, while praise was overall focused on the story, platforming and controls.
Gameplay
ReCore is an action-adventure and platform game played from a third-person perspective. It centers around Joule Adams and her three robotic machines known as corebot companions, who aid her in combat and puzzle solving; these types of machines can be improved, should players find the blueprints and materials to do so, which grants upgrades to their attack and defense. The machines' cores can be swapped between them, changing their abilities in succession, and their frames are rearrangeable. Players can level up Joule's weapons and vitality. Ranged weapons have three kinds of ammunition that take down an enemy with a matching color: red, blue and yellow. Furthermore, if one of Joule's corebots matches the color of an enemy, it will thus inflict more damage in combat. Joule also wields a grappling hook that she uses to extract her enemies' energy cores after a certain amount of damage is done. Joule must dodge, jump or dash quickly to avoid taking damage.
Joule navigates the open world of Far Eden either on foot equipped with rocket boosters on her shoes and her back, across platforms with the grappling hook or via fast travel. The scenery may be altered by sandstorms, unveiling new areas to explore. Corebots can speak their own language called DigiMode, which the players are permitted to translate. Dungeons leading to progression in the story and containing resources that can be used for crafting are scattered throughout the world for Joule to unlock by way of collecting cores.
Plot
ReCore is set roughly 200 years in the future. In the course of the early 2020s, a disease called the "Dust Devil Plague" began to ravage the Earth. An organization named Mandate led global efforts to fight the disease. As the Earth became uninhabitable, Mandate launched several missions to a new planet known as Far Eden. Far Eden was discovered many light-years away in the first decades of the 21st century. Several thousand corebots were sent to build atmospheric processing facilities on Far Eden, and the first group of colonists was sent. The colonists were to hibernate in cryo-sleep for 200 years while the terraforming process finished. During this period, many of the colonists vanished, and the corebots became corrupted.