Punchy 'Zeno Clash 2' trailer retains unusual style

Imaginative first-person brawler "Zeno Clash" is due a sequel early in 2013, and its debut gameplay trailer shows that "Zeno Clash II" has lost none of the original's distinct appearance or quirkily populated world.

The-Golem-L-looks-out-over-a-Zeno-Clash-II-landscape-Photo-AFP

Imaginative first-person brawler 'Zeno Clash' is due a sequel early in 2013, and its debut gameplay trailer shows that 'Zeno Clash II' has lost none of the original's distinct appearance or quirkily populated world.

2009 release 'Zeno Clash' was the first commercial release from Chilean studio ACE Team, and its accomplishments were recognized with a place in that year's Independent Game Festival award finals.

The cohort's interest in exploring art history continued, with Bosch, Rembrandt, and Dürer (by way of fantasy artist John Blanche) established as influences on 'Zeno Clash,' and in 2011 the bowling game 'Rock of Ages' pulled from five periods of Western art.

Alongside the 'Zeno Clash II' art style lies a similarly unusual interest in fist fighting where most first-person perspective games default to pistols and rifles, 'Mirror's Edge' and 'Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay' notwithstanding.

That said, this latest trailer acknowledges the existence of interesting-looking ranged weaponry within 'Zeno Clash II,' and adds to that the potential to co-opt enemies to your cause, an intriguing remote-control amulet, and some unexpected wrestling moves, offering the fearsome man-boar piledriver as an example.