Just Cause 3 protagonist Rico explored in new dev diary

Just Cause 3 will up the ante on the series’ longstanding over-the-top action, but also explore Rico, the heretofore bumbling, muscle-head protagonist, as a character. In a recent developer diary, the team at Avalanche Studios delved into what makes Rico unique, and what the narrative angle will be in the coming sequel.

“We are focusing a little bit more on Rico this time around,” said Avalanche Chief Creative Officer Christofer Sundberg, “to show him, his personality that’s sort of been hidden in the first two games.” Sundberg describes Rico as a man capable of extremes of both good and bad as dictated by the player. Lead Character Programmer Jeet Shroff echoed Sundberg’s comments, calling Rico a “badass, angry, crazy, anti-heroish sort of [character]” who often does the right thing, albeit in crazy ways.

“We took Rico from where he was and we wanted to do a progression of the story,” said Game Director Roland Lesterlin. “What would Rico do [after] what happened in [Just Cause 2]?” In stark contrast to the first two Just Cause titles, which allowed the world itself to take the stage and relegate Rico to a tangential role, Just Cause 3 will flesh out Rico’s background. “What would it be like if you were a person who had set off a nuke … twice?”

The movement of Just Cause 3 will also be opened up, primarily through an updated version of the wing suit. The series’ beloved grappling hook can be used while gliding with the wing suit, which creates a more fast-paced movement system. By grappling to nearby objects, from cars to buildings to the ground itself, you can change your direction without slowing down.

The grappling hook itself has also been upgraded. Avalanche took a page from the Just Cause 2 modding community and added a second tether to Rico’s hook. This all stems from the core design philosophy of creating an enjoyable movement system. Fittingly enough, a replica of the updated grappling hook will also appear in the game’s Collector’s Edition.

“One of the things we wanted to make sure [of] was moving around the world, in a very vertical world, in this playground, had to be amusing,” Lesterlin said. “A lot of games do an open world, but then it can be a little tedious, and after a while, you just start jumping around using fast-travel. We wanted to try and create an experience where just moving to the other position was fun.”