Fans of the Dishonored series and Prey were crestfallen in May when news broke that Arkane Austin, along with Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks and Mighty Doom developer Alpha Dog Studios, had been shuttered by Microsoft. Fear not, though, as Wolfeye Studios is more than willing to pick up the torch with its upcoming first-person action RPG.
Co-founded in 2019 by Raphael Colantonio, founder of Arkane Studios and co-creator of Dishonored and Prey, Wolfeye Studios announced Thursday that the follow-up to its 2022 isometric RPG Weird West — a first-person action RPG set in a retro sci-fi universe — is now in early production.
Image: Wolfeye Studios
“We are so happy to be able to officially confirm that our next game is actively in production and that it is a First Person Action RPG,” Colantonio said in a news release. “Fans of the past games I have been involved with such as Dishonored and Prey will feel at home, as well as fans of RPGs in general.”
The first visuals of the as-of-yet untitled game, released alongside the announcement of its upcoming limited private alpha test next year, certainly feel indebted to the look and atmosphere of the Dishonored and Prey universes. It’s hard to tell how these images will reflect the final look and gameplay of Wolfeye Studios’ upcoming game, which makes it all the more fun to scrutinize them and come up with our own theories as to how the game might turn out.
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Image: Wolfeye Studios
The images depict workers tinkering on what appears to be some strange steampunk device decorated in elaborate filigree patterns and an ominous masked face, as well as a series of sheet metal platforms built over the mouth of a dark, fog-laden canyon. We also get a glimpse of a skeletal drone robot that bears a slight resemblance to Dishonored 2’s Clockwork Soldiers, albeit with two shoulder-mounted gatling guns instead of two arm-mounted swords.
Colantonio says that the studio is currently looking for a publishing partner for the game and that players eager to playtest the upcoming limited alpha test scheduled for next year can sign up for updates via the studio’s official site. The games industry has taken blow after blow this year, with a string of mass layoffs and studio closures, but at the very least it’s reassuring to know that Arkane Austin’s legacy — as well as the principles of the immersive sim genre — will continue to live on through Wolfeye Studios’ work.