Last week, Gunman Clive creator Bertil Hörberg revealed his first big new project since 2015's Gunman Clive 2: Mechstermination Force. The game is run 'n gun platformer boss rush where players take on a wide variety of different robots called MegaMechs. Following its announcement, DualShockers talked with Bertil Hörberg about Mechstermination Force and learned lots of new things about the game.

When it was first announced, Hörberg Productions cited both Contra and Shadow of the Colossus as major influences onthe game. These titles are both classics that inspire a wide variety of indie titles, but I was curious to see what exactly the developers drew from those two games when creating Mechstermination Force. 

During our interview, Bertil touched on Shadow of the Colossus first. "While I mention Shadow of the Colossus there isn't really that much direct influence from it other than the general concept of giant bosses that you have to climb on," he said. While the themes that Shadow of the Colossus goes for may not really be an influence, Bertil went on to say that Mechstermination Force does draw from "the memory of my initial experience of the game" from the "PS2 era" as well as Bertil's time with the recent remaster.

While the the boss rush against. giant enemies premise may be influenced by Shadow of the Colossus, Contra seems to have had a more direct impact on the moment to moment gameplay, as did Treasure games like Gunstar Heroes. "The Contra influences are more direct. Some of the weapons and bosses borrow a bit from Contra as well as a bit of the general feel, along with other games like Gunstar Heroes and Treasure games in general," Bertil told me.

Considering we haven't seen a new Contra game on consoles in years, I'm glad to see its essence and legacy going strong in Mechstermination Force. For a refresher on what exactly the game looks and players like, you can check out its first trailer below. Mechstermination Force is currently set to release for Nintendo Switch sometime this Spring.