Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope will have "way more battles than Kingdom Battle"

The Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope showcase has just come to a close, and as part of that event, fans have been treated to a hefty look at gameplay for the title and how it's looking ahead of its October 20, 2022 launch date. To mark this very event, we've also had the chance to chat with the creative director at Ubisoft Milan, Davide Soliani, where we got to learn even more about how the game will work.

When asked about the combat in particular, and how this has been designed to fit the more open and explorable style of Sparks of Hope, Soliani told us.

"Basically, it's partially explained by the story. There is this malevolent entity, which is seeking to drain energy from everything, planets, inhabitants, and especially the Sparks because those are creatures made of energy. In order to do so, it's spreading this substance called Darkmess, which once touched teleports the heroes into a dimension called Darkmess, where the heroes will face enemies.

There are a lot of those Darkmess puddles or Darkmess tentacles - that are even bigger battles - spread out in the planets, but there are also roaming enemies, which were not present in Kingdom Battle. Those enemies are roaming the planets, they are a bit covered by this Darkmess substance, and if you dash into them you will be teleported into another dimension where you will focus just on the battle."

As for why Ubisoft Milan decided to split the combat from the exploration, Soliani explained this in full.

"We decided to do so because we wanted to have way more battles compared to Kingdom Battle. So, in Sparks of Hope, we have more chances for the player to decide if they want to follow the critical path or the side content as they please, and in order to do so, we needed to extract the combat from the creation of the planets, because otherwise, it would have been immense."

You can read a lengthier preview about Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope here and catch our full video interview with Soliani very soon.