Dying and Lucifel in El Shaddai

Just yesterday, when speaking of El Shaddai I was drawing comparisons to Prince of Persia, and today Game Informer has validated my suspicions. Though having a predominant focus on combat, there’s definitely a platforming element to this game–that much we could have taken from the trailer alone. This, however, isn’t necessarily where the comparison can be drawn. We now also know that there will be choice in this game, and it’s has heavily to do with our “guardian’ angel, Lucifel. GI describes that in one scene, you’re getting ready for a difficult battle, and Lucifel offers you a better set of armor. You refuse and the game moves forward–but you get overpowered easily. Just when the ‘Game Over’ screen starts to appear, Lucifel says that ‘It’s not your time yet.’ Using his apparent time-travel powers, he reverses time to your last checkpoint to take you back where you made your decision, and asks you once more: do you want a better set of armor? So, like the Prince of Persia reboot, ‘dying’–actual dying, that is–isn’t possible. Unlike the reboot, however, the reversal of your death is actually imbued within the story, which is more like the previous PoP’s where the Prince says that X is not what happened.

Knowing that Lucifel is your ‘guardian angel’ makes the whole situation that much more interesting: do you trust him? Should you trust him? He’s helping you out, but at what price? Why is it not my time? Something tells me Lucifel will end up more Anakin Skywalker than guardian angel extraordinaire–but, we’ll have to play the game to find out!