RocketWerkz posted up a new developer documentary showcasing the pillars of design for their combat systems in the upcoming cybernoir, action-RPG, Living Dark. The five and a half minute video takes gamers through the way the combat works and what the developers are doing to foster creativity and ingenuity in their upcoming title.

The video starts with animator Jangjoon Cha, who talks about the inspiration behind Living Dark’s action design philosophy and the kind of choreography they wanted to aim for. The team at RocketWerkz selected some top-notch films for inspiration, including John Wick, the Korean version of Oldboy, and The Raid. Cha also took personal inspiration from my personal favorite South Korean film of all time, The Man From Nowhere (you gave perfected tastes, son).

The reason they decided to focus on those films is because each of those films showcase different styles of martial arts and different types of melee and ranged combat.

Living Dark will feature multiple fighting styles that can be improved upon and evolved throughout the course of the game. At the start you’ll simply have your fists, but as you progress you’ll be able to unlock Judo throws, Tae Kwon Do, and a variety of weapon-focused attacks.

At the minute mark you can see some of the different fighting styles in play.

You’ll have the option of customizing the movelist and loadout for your character.

One of the neat things mentioned in the video is that there’s also seamless blending between different styles, including mixing and matching martial arts with gunplay.

Lead programmer Jayde Cohen explained how the system works, saying…

“At any point during combat you’re able to pull out your gun seamlessly and switch back to melee seamlessly. And then on top of that we treat weapons as almost their own melee moveset. So you might be able to equip a light attack – which is a gun-butt – so when you get up close to someone you gun-butt them instead of punching them.”

You can also pair up guns with parry and grab attacks, which is demonstrated in the video at the four minute mark, where we see a prototype animation of a character using a flip to hip-toss an opponent to the ground while still using their gun. It’s almost identical to the close-quarters martial arts gun-handling featured in the film series John Wick.

As mentioned in the video, you’ll be able to move between melee, projectile weapons, and mixing both of them together.

They showcase some of the ranged weapons that you’ll be able to acquire throughout the game, as well as discuss how the low tier weapons will be the equivalent of 3D-printed guns like in Watch Dogs 2, while higher-tier weapons will come with built-in H.U.Ds, and high-quality designs.

Living Dark is still very heavy in the development phase, so don’t expect to see the final results until next year. They’re gunning for a 2019 release on PC.

You can keep track of the development for Living Dark by paying a very kind visit to the official website.