Since its first trailer dropped, GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT has caught the attention of mecha action fans everywhere, with many drawing comparisons to titles like Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon. To get a clearer picture of what the game is really about and how it fits into, and breaks away from, the long history of Gundam titles, we sat down with two of the people steering the project: Main Producer Yuya Tomiyama and Director Yoshiyuki Serizawa. Over the course of the conversation, the pair walked us through their design philosophy, the challenges of building a brand new Gundam universe, and why they chose to put players face to face with enemies unlike anything seen in past titles.

Chasing the Gundam Experience

One of the first things the team wanted to nail down was accessibility. “One of the biggest features of GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT is that its controls are relatively easy to pick up,” Tomiyama said. He explained that players will be able to move freely between the ground and the air while fighting enemies up close, a design choice meant to lower the barrier to entry without dumbing down the action.

That accessibility, according to Tomiyama, was never just about newcomers. “We wanted both players who are already familiar with mecha action games and those who are experiencing the genre for the first time to be able to easily enjoy the fun of piloting a Mobile Suit,” he said. In his view, the controls needed to feel simple enough to grasp quickly, while still leaving room for the kind of depth genre veterans expect.

For Serizawa, everything about the game’s design comes back to a central idea. “The core concept behind GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT is to let players experience what we understand as the ‘Gundam Experience,'” he said, describing it as a combination of three pillars: war, Mobile Suits, and human drama. Unlike older Gundam titles that focus on Mobile Suit versus Mobile Suit battles, this game puts players up against massive extraterrestrial creatures called the Apocalypse. Serizawa said this shift was deliberate.

“This allows us to create a very unique visual experience while also delivering the high-speed action that Gundam is known for.”

He also pointed to smaller touches meant to make players feel like they are living inside the anime rather than just controlling a character in it. Before any battle begins, players will see the pilot board the launch catapult and activate the Mobile Suit.

“These are scenes that players would normally see in the anime, and we wanted to let them experience those moments firsthand in the game.”

As for the story itself, details remain limited for now. “While we cannot reveal too much about the story yet, players will experience the story of war, Mobile Suits, and humanity through the journey of the protagonist, Rex,” Serizawa said.

Building a Brand New Universe

GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT is part of the RG Project, which introduces an entirely new Gundam universe. “The RG Project itself has already established a completely new worldview,” Tomiyama said, noting that the anime side is led by Director Kamiyama, working alongside Director Enjo Toh on the science fiction setting. From there, the game team’s task was figuring out how to translate that world into something that works as an action game.

Even with a new setting, Tomiyama was clear that the core of Gundam could not be lost in the process. “Even though this is an entirely new universe, we cannot lose the encounters between characters, their relationships, or the experiences they go through during wartime,” he said. That human element, he added, needed to come through in the gameplay itself, not just in cutscenes or story sequences.  Serizawa described the RG Project in similar terms.

“The RG Project itself is a very hard-SF-oriented work, so we want players to enjoy this brand-new universe.”

At the same time, he acknowledged that keeping human drama at the center of an action game was one of the harder problems the team had to solve. “How relationships between characters change during war, how they come to understand and connect with each other, and the various experiences they go through during the conflict will all become part of the story,” he said.

Serizawa also spoke about wanting players to feel the sheer scale of what they are piloting. “A Gundam is a gigantic Mobile Suit standing around 18 meters tall, controlled directly by a pilot inside it,” he said, adding that conveying that size and weight through gameplay was something the team cared about deeply.

Why Fight Giant Enemies Instead of Other Gundams

A major departure from past titles is the choice to pit players against the Apocalypse rather than rival Mobile Suits. Tomiyama noted that the idea isn’t entirely without precedent in the franchise, pointing to similar elements seen in the Mobile Suit Gundam 00 movie. Still, this game marks a clearer shift in focus. “Many previous Gundam works have focused on battles between Mobile Suits, but this time we wanted Gundam to face gigantic Apocalypses,” he said. The goal, he explained, was to make these giant enemies genuinely fun and challenging to fight rather than simple set pieces.

“Players should be able to experience the thrill of piloting a Mobile Suit through a city, fighting a gigantic enemy, and ultimately destroying it.”

Serizawa added that facing an enemy of this scale also opens up new visual possibilities. “Another important reason for choosing the Apocalypse is that they allow us to create a completely different visual experience,” he said. In a typical Gundam-versus-Gundam fight, the camera tends to stay close to the action, but against something as massive as an Apocalypse, it has to pull back to properly show its size. “This kind of ‘giant versus giant’ battle creates a very unique visual experience and further enhances the feeling of being an ace pilot,” Serizawa said.

He summed up the intent behind these encounters directly.

“We want players to feel what it is like to move at high speed in a Gundam, face a gigantic Apocalypse, and ultimately bring it down.”

Making Players Feel Like They’re Really Piloting a Gundam

Since Gundam has always carried the appeal of letting players imagine themselves at the controls of a Mobile Suit, the team spent a lot of time thinking about how to make that fantasy feel real. “First of all, we wanted players to genuinely feel what it is like to pilot a gigantic Mobile Suit,” Serizawa said. That thinking shaped the decision to lean into close-range combat.

“We chose to emphasize melee combat because when facing large enemies, close-range attacks can provide a very direct sense of impact.”

Ranged combat hasn’t been left behind, though. The Beam Rifle remains a key weapon, and it can be charged to gain piercing properties, making it useful against regular enemies and effective against bosses as well. The game also includes sub-weapon systems like the AP Unit, which Serizawa said may remind players of equipment such as the Nu Gundam’s Fin Funnels or the weapons seen on the Strike Freedom.

On top of that, there’s a mechanic called the Gun-Rise Gauge, which lets the Gundam enter a temporary powered-up state. Serizawa compared it to familiar franchise concepts, saying it is “similar in concept to Trans-Am from Gundam 00 or NT-D from Gundam Unicorn, giving players the feeling of the Gundam unleashing its full power in an instant.”

Tomiyama tied this back to the development team’s background. “Many members of the development team have previously worked on Gundam games, and they have constantly been thinking about how to make players feel, ‘This is Gundam,’ when they are controlling the Mobile Suit,” he said. He also pointed to a balancing act between speed and weight.

“We wanted to find a balance where players can feel the speed of movement while never forgetting that they are controlling a massive, heavy Mobile Suit.”

To support that balance, Serizawa mentioned a tactical action system that includes movement options like Steps and attack cancels. “Our goal was not simply to pursue speed, but to create a high-speed action experience that also has a strong tactical element,” he said.

Putting Melee Combat Front and Center

While the Gundam series is known for a wide range of ranged weapons, the team made a clear decision to lean into melee combat for this title. “One important goal of the project is to allow players who enjoy action games to truly ‘pick up a weapon’ and fight with it,” Tomiyama said. He added that this focus was also about feel.

“We wanted players to feel the tension of melee combat, as well as the sense of weight when weapons collide.”

That focus on melee doesn’t mean weapons stay static throughout the game. Tomiyama noted that gear will visually evolve as players progress, with the Beam Saber able to change in length, thickness, and color, and even transform into different forms like the Beam Javelin. Serizawa connected this progression to a broader goal around personalization. “We want players to gradually build the Gundam they personally like as they progress, while also satisfying that desire to make their Gundam look even cooler,” he said.

A Story First, Multiplayer Second

Unlike recent Gundam titles such as Gundam Breaker 4 and Mobile Suit Gundam Battle Operation 2, which lean heavily into multiplayer, GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT puts its single-player story front and center. “We chose to make the single-player experience the core of the game because we wanted players to truly experience what it means to ‘become an ace pilot,'” Tomiyama said.

He elaborated on what that journey is meant to deliver. “We want players to focus on the main story and, through Rex’s journey, gradually understand what it means to become an ace pilot and what it feels like when the fate of the world is placed in your hands,” Tomiyama said, adding that multiplayer isn’t being left out entirely. Once the main story is finished, up to three players will be able to team up and take on enemies together, bringing their own customized Gundams into the fight.

Serizawa reinforced why the story comes first. “Unlike Gundam titles that focus primarily on multiplayer experiences, we wanted the single-player story to allow players to more deeply experience the process of becoming an ace pilot,” he said. For him, human drama in Gundam goes beyond the bonds between characters; it also includes the anger, frustration, and misunderstandings that come from living through war.

“These are all very important parts of Gundam’s storytelling, and we hope players will experience them throughout Rex’s journey.”

With development still underway and many story details yet to be revealed, Tomiyama and Serizawa made clear that their focus remains on delivering an experience that feels true to Gundam, both in its action and in the human stories at its core.