WW2044 – The Pacific Theatre in 2042

WW2044 (World War 2044) is my ongoing experiment in reimagining the Pacific Theatre with modern exosuits, drones, night‑ops gear, and retrofuturist military tech. This dev diary takes you behind the scenes of the concepts, kitbashes, and worldbuilding that I am making for the Japanese Empire - that is to say, the bad guys. And who doesn't love a good bad guy to fight.

The Pacific Theatre in 2042

“after the USA launched a counter-offensive following Pearl Harbor, the industrial advantage of the US rocket and naval campaign began pushing back the IJN in the theatre...”

Exosuits and Special Forces in the IJA

I'll admit 'Japan has exosuit Samurai' is not the most original worldbuilding around, but I had to try this out, it was a great look. Ever since I saw armored ballistic helmets pop up online (the lads insist we call them power ranger helmets), I knew I had to do a concept using a similar design. I added some armor plating and kevlar layers, and an exosuit rigs based on the ones being experimented with right now.

Then, I mixed this very much Red Alert feeling helmet with modern night vision, attachments, velcro, the typical stuff you’d bolt on to a rig.”

Blender kitbashing workflow

This particular project started in Blender, by kitbashing existing and new model elements. Usually, I overpaint them with photos+drawing. In this case, I satrted from my previous Japan concept and added some bits and bobs to it.