A few days ago Activision announced the reveal of perhaps one of the most anticipated sequels from their library; Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark. This new title is a sequel to High Moon’s acclaimed War for Cybertron franchise, however along with the announcement of the new title came the bit of the disappointing reveal that developers High Moon, who have been attached to the project since 2010, would not be involved with this new title. Rise of the Dark Spark will instead be developed by Edge of Reality, whom just recently bad a string of success with their recently launched free-to-play third-person shooter Loadout. However, this is the team’s first major project since arguably the release of EA’s Dragon Age: Origins on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, and will be their very first next-gen title. With a new developer that has a bit of acclaim themselves taking on an acclaimed video game franchise, what can fans of the War for Cybertron series expect from Edge of Reality? We take a look at the number of possibilities, with the information that’s been given.

While not much has been shown the game is already looking pretty as hell.

The Story is there:

While we don’t exactly know how, the Cybertron video game franchise will now collide universe with Michael Bay and Paramount’s Transformers’ film franchise. Some might see this as the Cybertron franchise going down the “video game/film tie-in” route, but Activision is trying to make it very clear that Rise of the Dark Spark will have it’s own separate storyline despite the new merger between the two Transformers properties. The game leaves off where Transformers: Fall of Cybertron left off, with the Transformers being forced to flee their home of Cybertron and arriving in our Solar System, landing on Earth in the process. It looks as if the landing will occur during modern day, which means no Beast Wars transformers, this could be where part of the film tie-in is explained. Though Dinobots have been confirmed, so there’s no real indication on when Rise of the Dark Spark takes place.

Bumble is looking bad ass in Rise of the Dark Spark.

Edge of Reality aren’t noobs:

Though Edge of Reality’s name hasn’t been heard in the industry as of late (before Loadout and Rise of the Dark Spark), they do have a history of developing some acclaimed titles. As previously mentioned the team developed the console versions of Dragon Age: Origins, and the recently released & acclaimed PC shooter Loadout. In the past the developers worked on the early entries of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater franchise (though it was the N64 version), as well as the Playstation 3 port of the original Mass Effect. They also worked on perhaps one of the first acclaimed Comic Book/Superhero games in Spider-Man for the Nintendo 64. So we could be looking at getting one hell of a Transformers game.

Optimus Prime is sporting his new Earth digs in Rise of the Dark Spark.

It will look incredible on next-gen consoles:

Though the engine being used for Rise of the ark Spark is currently unknown to the public, judging from early screens and video of the game it looks freaking amazing, and I expect it to look even more so on the Playstation 4, Xbox One, Wii U, and PC. The bright, glossy coloring and he re-design for the Transformers look awesome. Activision taking time to actually developed these Transformers titles does wonders for the end result.

Let the Cybertronian bullets fly!

The fantastic multiplayer returns:

If Edge of Reality’s recent efforts with Loadout has proven anything, it’s that they know how to develop one hell of a multiplayer/online gaming experience. With fan favorite online mode; Escalation returning in Rise of the Dark Spark there’s no telling just how far Edge is willing to provide us with that same great experience, while also expanding upon it in their own way to make it even greater. It was confirmed that over 40 playable characters would be in Rise of the Dark Spark, it’s quite likely that some of not most of these characters will be multiplayer exclusive.

An next-gen Escalation thrill ride is coming.

40+ Playable characters confirmed, wait what?:

Yeah you heard correctly, Rise of the Dark Spark will 40+ playable characters according to Activision. Obviously some of these will be limited to online play online, but what about the rest? The Cybertron series is no stranger having more than one playable character in the campaign mode. Characters such as Bumble Bee & Star Scream were playable opposite of their leaders Optimus Prime & Megatron respectively, so how many of these 40 or so characters playable in Rise of the Dark Spark’s campaign? The confirmed Transformers as of this writing are: Bumble Bee, Grimlock, Jetfire, Kickback, Lockdown, Optimus Prime, Shockwave, Sideswipe, Soundwave, and Swindle, though it’s currently unknown how many of them are playable.

The Dinobots will return in Rise of the Dark Spark as they make their debut in Age of Extinction.

While Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is a very short wait for fans of the Cybertron series, Activision hasn’t revealed too much concrete info on the game, but with the game releasing around this year’s E3, we can pretty much expect some kind of alpha (or final) build being playable upon it’s impending release just weeks later. And with the series crossing over to the Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Wii U the final product should be worth the wait.