gen Atlas is Shaping Up to Be a Huge Sci-Fi Adventure with Giant Robots and a Massive Open World

If you’re looking for another game that could eventually become a classic, Fumito Ueda’s next project is already looking like something worth keeping an eye on. The creator of Shadow of the Colossus, ICO, and The Last Guardian is working on gen Atla, which he has described as the biggest game he has ever made. 

That alone is enough to get fans of his previous work interested, especially because his games have always been known for creating unusual worlds and making you feel very small inside them. This time, however, he is taking that familiar approach into a much larger science-fiction setting.

There is currently only one proper gen Atla trailer available, so there isn’t a huge amount of public footage to work with yet. 

However, IGN and several other outlets were provided access to a much longer behind-closed-doors preview, while Ueda has also shared more information about the game through interviews. Those details have started to give you a much better idea of what gen Atla is actually trying to do. 

gen Atla is a single-player, open-world action-adventure game set on what appears to be an abandoned planet. You’ll explore huge open plains, enormous structures, and an environment that the developers have described as having an ever-changing sea. The trailer follows a humanoid character who wakes up without really knowing why they are there or where they have ended up. 

Ueda has confirmed this is his largest game to date, and the desert shown in the trailer is just one part of the overall world. As you progress, you’ll apparently be able to visit other locations and explore different biomes rather than staying in one enormous desert. That means the open world should have considerably more variety than the first trailer suggests. 

Despite some familiar ideas, gen Atla is not connected to ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, or The Last Guardian. Ueda explained during an interview with Game Informer that the game was designed as an entirely new world with no direct link to his previous titles. 

That gives the team room to build an entirely different setting while still using some of the ideas that have become associated with his games. The most significant difference this time is the giant robot and the unusual way you are able to control it.

Instead of simply fighting alongside a giant machine, you can actually enter the robot’s head and move around inside it. The head can then be connected to different robot bodies or torsos that you discover while exploring the world. This means the robot you use can potentially change depending on the body you find and the situation you are dealing with. 

Connecting the head to different bodies is not just a visual gimmick either. 

The developers have explained that different bodies can give you new ways to fight enemies and solve environmental puzzles. You still don’t know how many different bodies will be available, whether each will have unique abilities, or how freely you can switch between them. 

There also appears to be a tinkering and upgrade system connected to the robots. During the Game Informer interview, Ueda mentioned that you will be able to modify or improve the machines, although he has not explained exactly how the system works. 

That could mean finding different parts during your journey and using them to change what your robot can do. The possibility of adding useful equipment, such as lasers or other specialized parts, could make the different robot bodies even more important to exploration and combat.

gen Atla also appears to be considerably more action-focused than Ueda’s previous games. The trailer shows the human character using a gun, which is a noticeable change from his earlier titles, where direct combat was generally less prominent. Still, Ueda has made it clear that gen Atla is not intended to be a traditional shooter. 

The longer footage shown to IGN reportedly included quite a bit more action than the public trailer. One sequence apparently showed the player dealing with a giant beam coming down from the sky, with the preview comparing the moment to the Hammer of Dawn from Gears of War. 

It sounds like the kind of large-scale spectacle you would expect from a game built around enormous machines and structures. The trailer itself also appeared to have some frame-rate issues, so it remains to be seen how smoothly these bigger moments will run in the finished game.

One of the original ideas behind gen Atlas reportedly came from an image that Ueda could not get out of his head. 

He imagined a giant robot carrying its head underneath its arm, and that strange image eventually developed into one of the game’s central mechanics. The head can travel independently before being attached to another robot body, giving the idea a practical purpose within the gameplay. 

In Shadow of the Colossus, you enter a mysterious land and gradually take down its enormous creatures one by one. In gen Atlas, you appear to be doing something almost completely opposite by finding pieces of giant robots and putting them back together. 

That idea also fits into Ueda’s broader interest in creating images that are simple to understand but leave room for interpretation. The game still follows that same philosophy, even though it has shifted from a fantasy to a science-fiction setting.

The science-fiction setting does not mean gen Atla has completely abandoned the visual style associated with Ueda’s earlier work. Previewers have noted that it still looks like one of his games, especially in its world design. 

You get enormous landscapes, strange structures, and a sense that the human character is almost insignificant compared with everything around them. Even though the technology is advanced, the architecture often looks ancient, creating a strange contrast throughout the world.

Creating that feeling of scale has always been an important part of Ueda’s work. 

He has explained that it is not simply about building the largest possible map and measuring it in square miles. Instead, the goal is to make the world feel vast through its structures, landscapes, machines, and the way the player character interacts with them. gen Atlas seems to take that idea even further by putting you directly alongside giant robots that tower over the surrounding environment. 

Ueda has also talked about growing up with Japanese stories and media featuring giant robots, which became one of the inspirations for gen Atlas. He specifically mentioned Giant Robo as an influence and has also talked about his appreciation for The Iron Giant. 

WALL-E apparently made a strong impression on him as well, giving you a sense of the kind of visual storytelling that helped shape some of the game's ideas. Those influences make sense when you look at the trailer and see the combination of giant machines, quiet landscapes, and a relatively small human figure.

When it comes to storytelling, Ueda has compared his approach to writing a game with writing a haiku. He generally knows where the story begins and ends, while smaller visual moments develop the events in between. Those moments are designed to leave room for you to interpret what is happening instead of explaining everything directly. 

As for development, gen Atlas first appeared at The Game Awards in 2024 as an unnamed project known as Project Robot. However, Ueda later revealed that proper development began in 2020, meaning the project has already been in production for several years. 

The team is now using Unreal Engine, which Ueda said has made it easier to test ideas quickly and determine whether the game's unusual mechanics actually work. That should be particularly useful for a project built around an unconventional robot system.

GenDesign is developing the game, and Epic Games Publishing is publishing it. 

That is a notable change from Ueda’s previous projects, which were closely associated with PlayStation. This time, gen Atlas has been announced for PlayStation, XBOXSeries X|S, and PC through the Epic Games Store, giving the game a much broader platform reach. 

There is currently no confirmed release date for gen Atlas, and there is not even a specific release window yet. Considering serious development began in 2020 and the game already has a full trailer, there is at least a substantial amount of work to show. Fans will certainly be hoping they do not have to wait as long as they did for The Last Guardian. 

Even with everything that has been revealed, there are still plenty of unanswered questions surrounding gen Atlas. The biggest unknowns involve the structure of the open world and exactly how the robot system will work throughout the entire game. 

It is not yet clear whether controlling a robot will be a constant part of your journey or something you only do temporarily in certain sections. The number of bodies you can discover and how much freedom you have to switch between them remain under wraps.

For now, though, you can’t ignore the core idea. A huge open world, mysterious landscapes, giant robots, interchangeable bodies, and Ueda’s familiar focus on scale could make gen Atlas one of the more unusual action-adventure games in development. 

It’s also interesting to see the creator of Shadow of the Colossus take the idea of gigantic beings and turn it into something you can control. With more information expected as development continues, the game is shaping up to be another ambitious project from one of gaming’s most distinctive creators.