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Arkane founder Raphaël Colantonio has begun teasing his next game, which is described as a first-person “retro sci-fi RPG”.

Colantonio and Julien Roby, a former executive producer at Arkane, announced in 2019 that they’d left the celebrated developer to form a new outfit called WolfEye Studios.

The pair are currently pitching the studio’s second game at GDC in San Francisco, Colantonio said on X, where he posted a couple of tweets confirming its genre.

“Retro sci-fi FPS” can be seen on a monitor in one image, and on a whiteboard in another, which also confirms it’s a first-person game.

Colantonio spent 18 years at Arkane, during which he served as president and co-creative director at the studio behind games including Dishonored, Prey, Arx Fatalis, and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.

Roby was at Arkane for 11 years, and more recently worked as a producer on Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Mafia 3 before leaving 2K to co-found WolfEye.

The studio’s debut title, Weird West, was released in March 2022. The dark fantasy reimagining of the Wild West is a top-down action RPG and immersive sim that earned scores of 76 (PC), 73 (PS4) and 81 (Xbox One) on review aggregation site Metacritic.

It was announced last May that WolfEye had secured investment from venture capital firm Galaxy Interactive.

CEO Roby said at the time: “Our partnership with Galaxy will allow us to maintain our independence, while also allowing us to get more ambitious with our next game – which is a dream situation to be in!”

“The company will spend the next months expanding their talented development team and will continue to develop a prototype for an ambitious new IP, which is yet to be announced,” WolfEye added.

The next game from Arkane founder Raphaël Colantonio is a first-person ‘retro sci-fi RPG’ | VGC

WolfEye Studios is pitching the title at GDC this week…

www.videogameschronicle.com

 

[Hudo]

Is he also working with Viktor Antonov? Loved that guy's work on Half-Life 2 and Dishonored.

 

[intbal]

"retro scifi"

So, Fallout 1 or Crimson Skies?

 

[skyfinch]

Buying a ps5 pro for this.

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

Love retro sci-fi...

Thinking it will be similar to The Invincible.

 

[Heisenberg007]

.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Who wants RPGs to be in first person? bah!

 

[StereoVsn]

I enjoyed Weird West so it’s going to be interesting to see what they come up with.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

That basically describes Prey and I am very very ok with that.

 

[hyperbertha]

Who wants RPGs to be in first person? bah!

Me. Especially immersive sims, which this guy has a known for.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Me. Especially immersive sims, which this guy has a known for.

I think VR has spoiled me to where I don't want flat games to be first person, just VR games.
I'd rather see my character when I'm not completely immersed in VR.

 

[Beer Baelly]

Starfall

 

[StereoVsn]

I think VR has spoiled me to where I don't want flat games to be first person, just VR games.
I'd rather see my character when I'm not completely immersed in VR.

It’s a game from Arcane studio founder who has bees doing first person RPGs or Action games for couple of decades now.

It only makes sense for his new game to be first person.

 

[Lunarorbit]

Weird west was great until I realized I only got to play the first character for part of the game. I think I switched to a pigman tank character who meleed and I was bummed.

I think it was a ps plus game. Love Prey. Rooting for this game

 

[ungalo]

better idea than the "isometric immersive sim"

 

[Moriarty1889]

Hoping it’s offline playable as well.

 

[Krappadizzle]

better idea than the "isometric immersive sim"

The idea was...ok.. but the execution just didn't work out that well. I've started and stopped Weird West probably 5 or 6 times and just can't feel comfortable with the controls. The first person mod makes it better but then it kinda changes the game in a big way and I just eventually give up playing it. I want to like it more than I actually like it. The setting, genre, and story are all interesting, it just never feels good to play.

Either way, I hope this next game is more in the lines of Dishonored or Prey if they are gonna go back to FPS. I'd love to see his take on the genre with a 3rd person camera.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Will this ever see the light of day? I would guess no

 

[hybrid_birth]

Who wants RPGs to be in first person? bah!

Elder scrolls fans probably.

 

[Chuck Berry]

I enjoyed Weird West so it’s going to be interesting to see what they come up with.

Me too. 100% in for this.

My guess itll be a throwback to classic Arkane ie Dishonored and Prey (which Colantonio both directed)

 

[WitchHunter]

"We invest in pioneering content (wow), technology, and social commerce companies that enable and amplify our agency and self-expression through integration of our digital and physical lives (hell, no)."

Venture capital in games? How did they evaluate the risk?

guys know how to build a game
dey even released games
revolutionary RPG system (we replaced dice with spheres)
retro is good (whatever)

Fuck, here is my money.

Also, uhoh:

001 · The ubiquity of virtual worlds will force us to revisit long-held assumptions around the meaning of “real,” from the content we consume to the objects we own.
002 · New communities and economies will be created in the convergence between our physical and digital lives.
003 · The power of play can and will foster a healthy sense of community, place, and purpose.
004 · The digital paradigm will evolve from exploiting user data to enabling user intent.
005 · Digital spaces have the power to provide access, inclusion, and opportunity rather than escape.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Weird West was great in many aspects and I loved how it encouraged the player to be creative, but it was very apparent the game had severe budget issues with the low quality graphics, no voiceovers or copy-paste locations. Hopefully with the backing they got for this game they won't have to fight very hard with such constraints.

 

[kiphalfton]

Who wants RPGs to be in first person? bah!

If it's anything like Prey/Dishonored... everybody.

 

[Flabagast]

Guy is a legend, his streak at the helm of Arkane was nothing short of amazing

 

[kiphalfton]

Weird west was great until I realized I only got to play the first character for part of the game. I think I switched to a pigman tank character who meleed and I was bummed.

I think it was a ps plus game. Love Prey. Rooting for this game

Prey reinvigorated my interest in games, to some extent.

The GLOO gun is too damn good.

 

[Wildebeest]

Somehow, if he gets funding, I think he has more chance of completing it than Bloodlines 2 had.

 

[Umbral]

You beckoned me here. I hope they knock it out of the park like they did with Prey 2017.

 

[BbMajor7th]

If it's anything like Prey/Dishonored... everybody.

If only everybody had bought them... first person adventure games haven't been in vogue for over a decade and feel distinctly dated next to modern TPS equivalents. Wish Arkane would come to terms with that and stop pissing good talent up the wall.

 

[rhodesianshepard]

Arkane Austin died with Raphaël Colantonio leaving

 

[Flabagast]

Arkane Austin died with Raphaël Colantonio leaving

Arkane Lyon as well imho

 

[Laptop1991]

I hope the game comes out and is as good as their previous work at Arkane, i know i will like it.

 

[TheMan]

eh, never been a fan of the retro sci fi aesthetic

 

[GymWolf]

Hopefully it's gonna be better than weird west.

 

[Lunarorbit]

If only everybody had bought them... first person adventure games haven't been in vogue for over a decade and feel distinctly dated next to modern TPS equivalents. Wish Arkane would come to terms with that and stop pissing good talent up the wall.

I'm excited for system shock. Heard some negative things about it but I'm down

 

[EverydayBeast]

Loved Talos, and the neuromods of Prey 2017.

 

[Rosoboy19]

That basically describes Prey and I am very very ok with that.

I just finished another play-through of Prey two days ago, such a good game