Crytek's Roman action title Ryse may be the vanguard of the Xbox One's launch invasion force, but the game began a long while ago as an Xbox 360 project. The tech-savvy studio first pitched the game as a Kinect exclusive, a fact that I found easily showed through during my E3 demo, which utilized only three buttons of the controller. The game evolved into a third-person action game that more or less snubbed the Kinect when the need for a next-gen spectacle game emerged.

Just because the game focuses primarily on the controller, that doesn't mean that there won't be Kinect elements to the game. Voice commands will allow players to command their troops during the scripted segments such as the one we saw at E3, in which protagonist Marius Titus commands his men to put up their shields to deflect incoming arrows. By yelling, "Shields!" at your Kinect, you'll be able to achieve the same response.

The emphasis of Ryse is on creating a cinematic experience. Marius is a Roman ligonier whose family is killed before his eyes by barbarians. He joins up with the military and leads his men in a war against the barbarian hoards. Eventually, Titus will ascend to the rank of general.

Crytek showed off a few new armor sets, and revealed their inspiration for the art design as "art-deco meets ancient Rome." 

The studio was influence more by film and television than by other video games. In fact, they revealed that they actively turned away from hiring people who were experienced in developing video games and instead sought out people who only had experience in film. The goal here was to create a "movie within a game." This involved giving the characters "real conflicts, real issues to deal with."

Supposedly the game will have a "huge palette of characters," but none of them were revealed today.

Crytek also revealed two Comic Con-exclusive trailers. While neither of these trailers are online just yet, they will be soon. For now, I can only describe them to you. 

The first was a stylized depiction of the story of Damocles, a general whose cowardly men abandoned him during the heat of battle. Damocles was reborn with the help of the Goddess of Revenge, and sent on a mission to kill those who were unloyal. To this day, the symbol of Damocles reminds soldiers to be loyal on the battlefield.

The second trailer was another world premiere, and showed off the mo-cap process for the game. Mo-cap is being done at Andy Serkis' 'Imaginarium' studio, which is renowned for its lifelike facial capture.

We'll have more news on Ryse and the Xbox One soon, so stay tuned.