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Crytek USA, Vigil devs aim to get the band back together with new studio
David Adams, formerly of Darksiders series development studio Vigil Games, has formed a new studio: Gunfire Games. It is a studio comprised of seven team members from Crytek USA, which itself was formed entirely from ex-Vigil staff in the wake of the THQ closure and auction. In other words, in the span of 18 months, Adams has gone from Vigil employee to Crytek employee to founder of his own studio. Adams told Polygon that the decision to leave Crytek was due in part to financial issues which recently hit the company - issues that Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli says were not as bad as you may think - but also due to the fact that people were abandoning Crytek's ship, many of whom Adams wanted to keep working with. "It really was the team," Adams said. "When you make a game, one of the most important elements of that is the people you work with. You could get 12 of the best developers in the world and put them into a room and they may not make a good game." Adams also said that he "jumped" at joining Crytek, which in hindsight may not have been the best decision. "Having gone through this a second time, the first time we jumped on the first deal that sounded good; this time, we feel a little more confident in our abilities," said Gunfire studio director Matt Guzenda. "We walked away from them, not the other way around." Adams and Guzenda told Polygon they're working to bring more of the original Vigil team together, and are knocking around ideas for what they want to do next, which Adams expressed could include more Darksiders games, should IP owner Nordic Games give their support. In the meantime, Crytek USA has been relieved of their development on Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age. [Image: Gunfire Games]
Crytek co-op monster-blasting game Hunt switches studios
Homefront: The Revolution won't be the only Crytek game changing hands, the German publisher/developer studio has revealed. Following up on today's news that the Homefront IP had shifted to publisher Deep Silver, Crytek has announced that work on Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age will move from Crytek's Austin studio to its Frankfurt location. "Crytek will retain a presence in Austin, with several staff members maintaining the CRYENGINE support team to assist North American licensees," Crytek said in a statement. "Employees who are not set to be part of that support team will be invited to apply for new positions at Crytek in Germany." You may remember Crytek USA as the team comprised of staff from Vigil, the development studio behind the Darksiders games. That property now rests with Nordic, who are still figuring out what to do with it ever since buying it in the wake of the THQ auction last year. [Image: Crytek]
Crytek's Hunt is a monster-hunting order from another mother
When THQ dissolved in the summer of last year, Vigil Games - the studio behind Darksiders - was facing the chopping block. The THQ-owned company was eventually swept up by Crytek, and the 35 employees from Vigil reformed as Crytek USA. Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age will be the studio's first game, and though it stands apart from Vigil's games, it's also standing on its own two feet. Hunt is an online, team-based third-person game set in the 1800s. You are a hunter - a person who tracks down and eliminates the things that go bump in the night. Witches, zombies, lizardmen and more are lurking in the shadows of history, and your job is to make sure these walking nightmares get put to rest.
Crytek's Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age takes co-op to the 19th century
Crytek's second unveiling in as many days is Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age, a four-player action game that combines the prosperous industrialization of the late 19th century with pistols, crossbows and a likely bestiary of beasties. Also noteworthy is the developer, Crytek USA, the studio largely formed by ex-employees of Darksiders studio Vigil Games. The third-person game focuses on a band of player hunters seeking out enemy creatures, and it sounds like there are survival horror element to the gameplay, reminiscent of Valve's Left 4 Dead. Crytek's Hunt also has a "special content generation system" which promises no two enemy encounters or environments will be the same. Crytek says Hunt is coming to "PC and consoles" with closed beta testing on PC later this year. The company also notes it's part of its nebulous "Games as a Service" program. So is Arena of Fate, and that's confirmed to be free-to-play. "In Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age, players will be counting their bullets and crying out for help as they delve deeper into the shadowy world we've created," said David Adams CEO of Crytek USA and former CEO of Vigil Games. "From the outset of the development process, we've poured our imaginations into the game so that everyone who plays Hunt will discover a challenging experience that feels fresh, captivating and rich in possibilities."
