Genesis Alpha One's genre fusion shouldn't work, but it does

While we were at E3 in Los Angeles this year looking at Radiation Blue's Genesis Alpha One, Team 17's Danny Spiteri and Daniel Martin were on hand to give us a bit more information about the game, which is often referred to as a fusion of genres.

"So it's essentially a first-person shooter combined with a roguelike, combined with a science-fiction shipbuilding game, and it even has elements of like a survival horror," Spiteri explained. "It's just tons of things combined in a super unique kind of game. It almost shouldn't work, but it really, really does work."

"So the objective each time you start a new round of Genesis Alpha One is always is to always find a genesis candidate," he continued. "Now that is a planet where humanity can basically find a new home amongst the stars. Now the genesis candidate won't necessarily be the same each time. First of all it's a procedurally generated map, so you've got a new map to explore each time, but also there's an element of tailoring the genetic make up of your crew in order to actually fit the planet itself, so for instance if it's a planet that has O2, then you want a crew full of humans, whereas if it's a planet that, for instance, has temperatures that are too heightened for normal humans, then you might want to start introducing alien DNA into your crew in order for them to survive on the new planet."

Does this fusion of genres sound like a dream come true, or a recipe for disaster?