God Complex.(Too Human - video game)

It's no secret that the Xbox 360 is going to need a lot more games if it's going to stand up against the looming competition of Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Revolution. Multiplatform fare like Madden and Splinter Cell won't be enough--the console will assuredly need some killer exclusives. And that burden falls squarely upon the shoulders of Microsoft, a first-party publisher that, when compared to Sony CEA or Nintendo, hasn't really built a diverse stable of popular brands. Sure, Halo stands as an unstoppable juggernaut, and upstart series such as Fable and Forza will see anticipated sequels on the 360, but the majority of Microsoft's first-party Xbox 1 offerings are best left dead and forgotten. (Masochists, feel free to conjure up memories of Sneakers, Tao Feng, Fuzion Frenzy, Whacked!, Azurik, and--most distressingly--two Blinx games.)

Thankfully, the guys in charge now appear to have learned from past mistakes. This time around, rather than haphazardly dabbling in random genres, Microsoft has enlisted top-tier developers to create original, big-budget titles. Too Human is one of these dream projects, a ready-made blockbuster forged with carefully calculated mass appeal. Conceived as an epic from the ground up by maverick developer Silicon Knights, Too Human's grandiosity can't be contained by a single game, as this fall's debut chapter is but the first in a trilogy of planned releases. And there's more to this story than just a big-budget action game--Too Human has been in the works at Silicon Knights for over a decade, and if the words of its outspoken creator are to be believed...it just might change the world.

The history of humanity

Too Human hides a wealth of drama, intensity, and gravitas beneath its evocative, enigmatic title. We're not just talking about its complex mythology of gods, men, and monsters: While most new next-gen franchises start with a clean slate, this game arrives under a weighty burden of history. And although Silicon Knights President Denis Dyack seems reticent on the subject of Too Human's abnormally long gestation, that decade of development may secretly give this game the edge it needs to succeed.

Too Human began its bizarre journey over 10 years ago, when Dyack and his crew at Silicon Knights were working on the cult classic Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (PS1). While toiling away on that gothic action-RPG, Dyack was waxing philosophical on some heavy issues. "We wanted Too Human to be a really cool game that's fun to play, but at the same time, a game that makes some statements about technology, to help people to understand …