Rage 2 gets a gameplay trailer, due in 2019

Walmart leaked it, Twitter teased it, and Bethesda confirmed it, all within the space of a week. Rage 2 is happening, we learned for certain yesterday, with Doom masterminds id Software and Just Cause and Max Max developer Avalanche Studios at its helm.

Monday's live-action announcement trailer echoes the latter, with a cast of excitable road warrior types punching, kicking and dousing themselves in lager. Now, we know Rage 2 is out next year, we know the premise of its story, and we've got a glimpse at how it'll look in practice.

First, an explosive gameplay trailer:

Second, story details. Rage 2's post-apocalypse comes courtesy of an asteroid that's wiped out 80 percent of the world's population. Filling the dusty boots of Walker—"the last Ranger of the wasteland"—you've lost your home to The Authority, an autocratic gang who rule with an iron fist.

"Now you’ll have to rage for justice and freedom," says Bethesda in a statement. "With ludicrous vehicle combat, super-powered first-person mayhem, and an open world full of emergent madness, you will tear across an unforgiving wasteland battling sadistic gangs to find the tools and tech needed to crush the oppressive rule of The Authority once and for all."

With that, players are given a "vast and varied" landscape to explore, filled with jungles, swamps and desert plains. You'll do so on foot or at the wheel of everything from monster trucks to gyrocopters as you pursue your adversaries. You'll leverage an arsenal of upgradable weapons, 'Nanotrite' powers, and 'Overdrive'—"the ability to push your guns beyond their mechanical limits"—in order to succeed. And you'll fight an ensemble of hostile natives, mutants, and monsters, lest you succumb to the badlands.

More information on all of that can be gleaned from this blog post. No concrete launch date as yet, but Rage 2 is expected at some point in spring 2019. Expect more from Bethesda’s #BE3 showcase on June 10 at 6.30pm PST/June 11 at 2.30am BST.