Binary Domain Producer Believes Shooters Have The Widest Window Of Entry

Speaking with CVG, the developer revealed that Binary Domain took the run-and-gun route in order to achieve "the biggest window of entry for as many gamers as possible".

Despite Binary Domain representing the Yakuza Studio's first proper foray into the shooter genre — outside of the multi-faceted Yakuza: Of The End — Kikuchi was keen to point out that the outfit has done its homework.

“Within the studio there are so many who are total enthusiasts and who play a range of Western titles. I’ve looked at a lot of shooters for good references,” he explained.

“But also there’s a good point of comparison: identifying where the genre lacked and trying to bring something new to it. We wanted to contribute to the ‘gap’, and this is where having robotic enemies comes in. It ties heavily into the gameplay and with the very detailed procedural damage, giving you a different sense of feeling [to other shooters].

“Existing titles were a great reference, though, taking what works, then figuring out what we can contribute to the genre.”

Kikuchi continued that he hopes Binary Domain will appeal to a wide audience as a result.

"After all these years making only Japanese games I thought there’s a challenge in meeting a worldwide audience – not just Japanese or Western, but the audience as a whole,” he said.

“The challenges facing us making that decision is that you have to consider everyone. You can’t lean to one audience or the other and you have to consider what different people relate to.”

One way that the studio's ensured that the game appeals to as many players as possible is to consult native speakers during the writing process, with the hope of alleviating any dialogue mishaps that often occur during localisation.

“For Binary Domain a Japanese and UK writer collaborated on the story and all the little dialogues,” Kikuchi revealed.

“Subtle differences were discussed so as not to alienate anyone despite where they’re from.”

We were pretty impressed with Binary Domain when we got our hands on the title last year. It's certainly not going to blow anyone's socks off from an innovative stance, but it definitely feels solid and has a very unique style to it.