SINGAPORE — It’s been a long three years, but finally inFamous: Second Son is released. Unlike previous games in the series, inFAMOUS Second Son now focuses on a new character, Delsin, and this time the game is no longer based in the fictional Empire City, but in Seattle. How did creating a new character and producing the game for a new platform — the PlayStation 4 — affect the development process? Game director Nate Fox shared his thoughts on this email Q&A.

Q: Fans had to wait around 3 years since inFamous 2 for inFamous: Second Son to hit the stores. During the development process, how much emphasis was placed on creating an engaging plot and stunning environments for the game, and did the developers take any inspiration from earlier inFamous titles to develop Second Son?

A: After finishing Festival of Blood, we knew we wanted to make a new character with new powers in a new environment for the new platform. We really wanted to push the new hardware with our new particle system, the facial motion capture technology and the visuals of our environments. The past two inFamous games do influence our games. Second Son is very much an inFamous game, it’s also something very new and exciting for us.

Q: Second Son retains the open world, action-adventure element as its predecessors. In your opinion, what makes it stand out from the competition, primarily Grand Theft Auto?

A: Second Son’s claim to fame is it’s super powers. Cruising around town and blasting the bad guys never gets old. Since it’s an open world game you get to enjoy all those powers with total freedom.

Q: What are some of the highlights fans of the inFamous series can look forward to in Second Son?

A: Having multiple power sets is a game changer. You play the game differently, if you are using smoke or neon. The game is stunningly beautiful and it is a lot of fun just to play and interact with the city. We have a few surprises in store for fans of the previous games as well.

Q: What is the biggest benefit from developing a game for the PS4?

The thing that surprised us most about the PS4 was how many particles we could jam in every frame. We built a new particle system around the PS4 architecture, so we kind of expected it to work well, but we were excited to see just how well.

We can have particle systems with tens of thousands of particles without any trouble, and have up to a hundred or two thousand particles on screen at once in effects-heavy shots. We wouldn’t have been able to do smoke and neon as powers without the sinuous curves that all those particles afford us.

Q: How has the PS4 console helped elevate the game to something new for gamers?

A: The power of the new hardware makes for lusher graphics, which in turn makes Second Son more exciting and emotionally impactful. But the hidden star behind the new hardware is the deep simulation running at all times in our version of Seattle. We’ve created a dynamic world that is always ready to react to the player’s choices.

Q: Are there plans to release downloadable content along the lines of InFamous: Festival of Blood after Second Son is launched?

A: We aren’t really talking about DLC at the moment. We want to enjoy the launch of Second Son right now.

Q: What was the thought process behind utilising the DualShock 4 wireless controller’s touchpad controls in Second Son?

A: We were excited to get to work with the touchpad on new controller. We have chosen to use it during times we want to slow you down a bit, or to draw your focus on something other than combat. Using the touch pad for things like the DUP finger scanner and to raise the core of command units were just a natural fit.

inFAMOUS Second Son is now available for PlayStation 4. The disc version of the Standard Edition retails at S$69.90, while the download version retails for S$63. PlayStation Plus members who purchase the download version before April 3 will get 10 per cent off the retail price. The Collector’s Edition retails at S$89.90, and the PlayStation Bundle Pack retails at S$699.