When Access Games’ Xbox One exclusive D4 was announced a few months back with a very cryptic teaser trailer, a small chunk of the internet went wild in over-speculating and in some cases believing that the game would be some sort of sequel or spiritual successor to Kenji Eno’s two offbeat “D” games based on the title alone.

Now, that sort of very wishful thinking only works when there’s a smidgen of common sense in the recipe, so that these folks would even think that despite there being NO game named D3, comments from Hidetaka Suehiro (Swery65) on social networks hinting it wasn’t ever related and the simple fact that it just didn’t make sense for a man known for his own individually quirky style would try and concoct a followup to a game series that only a handful of people actually remember (and I’m saying this as a HUGE fan of WARP’s games) was a supreme stretch…

Thankfully, as more info has come out (including what those 4 D’s stand for – Dark Dreams Don’t Die) and game journalists at this year’s Tokyo Game Show are seeing the game in person, it’s very safe to say those rumors and hopes that D4 was a homage to WARP’s work or a direct sequel are smashed to pieces.

The game is, as it’s been noted for a few months, an episodic action/adventure about a detective named David who’s trying to stop the imminent death of his wife by traveling back in time to certain points. The game uses the new Kinect to interact with objects in the environments and do battle with enemies using assorted gestures. It’s also playable with a controller, but all the reports I’ve read to date from the show floor indicate that it performs well enough using gestures that even my skeptical self is thinking about snapping up an Xbox One at some point.

That’s a big “IF”, on the other hand, as in only if that console has more than one exclusive that piques my interest. I’m tempted by a few others, but the current number is not quite large enough to make me commit to a purchase. That said, if and when I do make a decision, this will be the first game I buy for that console, as I’ve been a Swery fan since Tomba 2: The Evil Swine Return on the original PlayStation, Extermination and Spy Fiction on the PS2, Lord of Arcana on the PSP and of course, both (and soon to be all three) versions of Deadly Premonition.

Anyway, as you can see above, the game’s “cel-shaded” style looks impressive and more like concept art sketches more than a cartoon (that term “cel-shaded” is a bit over-used these days). I rather like that the game isn’t trying to look “realistic” like many other next-generation titles, as this helps separate it from the bunch of “uncanny valley” games about to land on our collective heads as developers try to impress us with every map bumped and every single hair waving in the digital breeze.

Speaking of digital breezes, D4 will be a digital title available in chapters, but I hope to hell there’s a way for gamers who snap up that Xbox one to get the complete story on a handy disc when it’s completed. For one thing, not everyone who will buy an Xbox One is going to have an always online connection (or may want to choose NOT to be online when the console wants them to). Having the option of a disc down the road opens up the opportunity for Microsoft to sell MORE games to people who might not be able to play them when they’re initially released, so let’s hope the suits recognize this fact and stop leaving money out of their pockets as next-gen slowly overtakes this current one.

As always, we shall see… D4 doesn’t have a release date just yet, but once it does you’ll find out as soon as I do… stay tuned.