Rage

Point B turns out to be Wellspring, the main town in this desert. It's located directly above a, well, spring. Water is scarce in this world and therefore a precious commodity. Passing through the town gates, we see that Wellspring has the same haphazard industrial look as the buggy. Buildings are constructed from rusting metal and iron girders, and look as though they have been welded together by drunk people. There's a dusty, dirty look to the streets, and the metal seems to bake in the hot desert sun. Think Wild West meets Scrapheap Challenge.

We wander into a bar to find a group of drinkers (welders?) moaning about the price of water. Moving on through and back out onto the streets, we pass a shop with a sign saying Outfitters, which Hooper says is where all trading takes place. "There is an economy in Rage, so as you move round the world you get different items. You can loot things from dead bandits and mutants then buy and sell items at the Outfitters."

Outside, a group of men are squatting around some kind of game board. There's a small holographic figure in each corner and a set of dice being thrown around. "The idea is that the player should say, 'Hmm, what's that?' at this point," says Hooper. "We're not going to go too far today, but there is this sc-fi element that happens later on in the game and becomes a bigger part of the story."

Right now, our mission is to help out Carlson, who's in charge of the all-important well. We find him manning the pumps, which have an awful lot of steam coming out of them, while an alarm wails in the background. Turns out a group of bandits have been wrecking the joint and threatening to poison Wellspring's water supply. Carlson hands us some electro-bolts and tells us to fire them into the water if we're faced with any troublesome enemies.

Moving down into the well, the colour palette changes from pale greys and rusty browns to a darker, more monochrome look. Water gushes out of various spots on the walls, creating puddles on the ground. "We want each of these shooter environments to look as unique as possible," Hooper says. "In this case it's a well, so it's going to be very wet, with dripping water and puddles. But it's different to the previous environment and the next one."

The plan is also to keep changing things up by supplying the player with a steady supply of new weapons - like the aforementioned electro-bolts. Plus you'll find spare parts and blueprints as you explore the world. Collect the right parts and the right prints and you can build your own gadgets. In this instance, our character has created a bomb on wheels, which is controlled using the same system as the one in place for the buggy. "It's about giving the player something new, then letting the player decide when and where to use it."