Killzone: Shadows Fall may be one of the hottest PlayStation 4 exclusives of the console's launch window thanks to Driveclub's delay until 2014, and Game Director Steven Ter Heide recently participated in a Q&A session on the PlayStation Blog to further hype the game.
When asked about how long the game's campaign will be, Ter Heide revealed that the Killzone: Shadow Fall campaign will be "well over 10 hours" but will not feature co-op play. Instead co-op will be a separate multiplayer mode, he said.
"...the campaign will not have a co-op mode. However, we're planning to release a separate Online Co-op Expansion Pack after launch; it will add a new wave-based game mode, in which up to four players take on hordes of enemies in special arena maps."
Ter Heide also stated that the game's multiplayer will feature a unique rank-based system rather than players gaining experience points in battle:
"We have a Challenge-based system, where completing one of the 1,500 Challenges will increase your rank by one. We will continue to add new Challenges after launch."
Furthermore, the developer stated that vehicles will not be a part of multiplayer at launch due to the additional problem they may bring to user generated content:
"Killzone Shadow Fall multiplayer will not have any vehicles (such as Exoskeletons or Jetpacks) at launch. We wanted to ensure that player-created, custom Warzones work on all multiplayer maps, and the inclusion of vehicles would have introduced too many new variables and exceptions to guarantee this."
When asked if the game will be easy for new players to grasp in terms of setting and story, Ter Heide stated that Killzone: Shadows Fall will give new players a chance to get into the game without having to worry about existing plot points or other holdups:
"In many ways, Killzone Shadow Fall is a fresh start for the franchise - the game takes place some thirty years after the original Killzone trilogy, so most of the characters and story arcs from those games have passed into history. And while die-hard fans will appreciate the nods to earlier Killzone titles, no knowledge of the Killzone universe is required to get into the story."
Killzone: Shadows Fall is exclusive to the PlayStation 4, and those who buy the digital copy of the game will be able to start downloading it as soon as they get their system set up and download the menu and first level of the game.