Turtle Rock Studios Announces its Next Game: A Dark Fantasy Co-op Shooter

ffronw

I am a meat popsicle
Oct 24, 2013
2,804
0
0
Turtle Rock Studios Announces its Next Game: A Dark Fantasy Co-op Shooter

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1367/1367321.jpgThe developer of Left 4 Dead and Evolve is working on another co-op shooter - this one with a dark fantasy setting.

Turtle Rock Studios is best known for developing Left 4 Dead, and for the 4v1 co-op shooter, Evolve, which went free-to-play earlier this year. In late October, Turtle Rock announced that all development on Evolve had ceased, and in early November, it released an unfinished but playable campaign for L4D [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/168777-Turtle-Rock-Studios-Releases-Unfinished-Left-4-Dead-Campaign]. But despite that, there was still uncertainty as to what the studio's next project might be. This morning, we got an idea what's next for Turtle Rock.

Unsurprisingly, the developer is working on a co-op shooter. However, instead of zombies, this game will feature what Turtle Rock general manager and president Steve Goldstein calls [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-12-12-turtle-rock-aaa-boxed-product-not-a-welcome-home-for-indies] "a strong dark fantasy element." The new title will be published by Perfect World, the company that publishes Neverwinter and Star Trek Online.

Given Perfect World's track record with free-to-play games and Turtle Rock's experience with the payment model in Evolve it wouldn't be surprising if the new game uses that model as well. Goldstein seemed to affirm the developer's affinity for the model, saying, "To us, boxed product is like a speech, a developer is telling something to its audience and they have to listen. With free-to-play, it's a conversation and we love that dialog with our players.

The new game will will feature a brand new IP, and is being built on Unreal Engine 4. It's still a ways out, as it's not expected until at least 2018. Meanwhile, the studio is working on two VR titles with Oculus for Gear VR: Other Worlds and Face Your Fears.

It remains to be seen if Turtle Rock can recapture the magic that made Left 4 Dead a smash hit, but it is nice to see that studio isn't going away.

Permalink
 

PsychicTaco115

I've Been Having These Weird Dreams Lately...
Legacy
Mar 17, 2012
5,950
14
43
Country
United States
At least we didn't learn about this game's existence from a pre-order bonus... yet
 

Shadefyre

New member
Mar 25, 2008
199
0
0
I feel like Evolve put a big dent in their reputation, even if a lot of the stupid things they did with it were solely the publishers fault as they claim. They'll have to do something pretty noteworthy with this to get it to actually stand out.
 

Quellist

Migratory coconut
Oct 7, 2010
1,443
0
0
Colour me unimpressed. After the shitfest that was evolve i'm not expecting much except massive hype and multiple preorder packages
 

gigastar

Insert one-liner here.
Sep 13, 2010
4,419
0
0
>Dark Fantasy shooter

So theyre gonna make a Warhamm-

>Brand new IP

Well fuck. I suppose ill keep an ear to the ground though, if EMET proved anything [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7tLir6YO3M] its that someone at Turtle Rock can create entertaining characters and play them off eachother exquisitely.

Samtemdo8 said:
Dedtoo said:
So, Vermintide, but with something else in place of the rats?
Since you have a Warhammer Avatar, what do you recommend me to buy in the Steam Sale?

Dawn of War 2 or Vermintide?
Definitely DoW2.

Vermintide is a nice game, but it has the same problem as L4D does in that the repetition gets stale. And this is compounded by the loot system requiring you to run levels repeatedly to acquire weapons to mulch in order to awaken the traits on the weapon you want to use.

Meanwhile Dawn of War 2: Retribution has a glorious campaign playable with 6 different factions, with the story varying from compelling (Eldar, Marines) to outright silly (OrksOrksOrksOrks) as well as The Last Stand, which is easily the best thing Relic has ever done and if its not included in DoW3 at launch i will flip my shit.
 

The Rogue Wolf

Stealthy Carnivore
Legacy
Nov 25, 2007
16,302
8,779
118
Stalking the Digital Tundra
Gender
✅
I want to believe that Turtle Rock learned from Evolve; I really do. A dark-fantasy Left 4 Dead sounds awesome, but Vermintide made some questionable loot decisions and hasn't seen much in the way of support or expansion. (Hint to developers: Supporting mod-makers and mappers is a great way to give your title longevity.) But Evolve was one of the most egregious displays of ham-fisted marketing ever, and it taints everything they do.
 

TelosSupreme

New member
Dec 8, 2015
149
0
0
Man, these guys really seem like a one-trick pony at this point. And the whole Evolve fiasco certainly doesn't help that.

Saelune said:
Uh, obviously its a new Hexen game with co-op. Duuuh.
That would actually be pretty badass. A new Hexen game in general would be cool, like the remakes for Shadow Warrior and Rise of the Triad.
 

Wrex Brogan

New member
Jan 28, 2016
803
0
0
Free-to-play is like a conversation with the players, just every second statement from the developer is 'go fuck yourself'. Not against the model, but I've got a strong feeling after the weird pre-order madness these guys did with Evolve, they're going to go a bit nuts with the free-to-play system as well. It's hard to break a habit after you fuck up that badly.
 

Battenberg

Browncoat
Aug 16, 2012
550
0
0
"To us, boxed product is like a speech, a developer is telling something to its audience and they have to listen. With free-to-play, it's a conversation and we love that dialog with our players."

What a delightful pile of crap. Why not just be upfront that they're doing this because a) after Evolve they'd struggle to sell any fully paid game and b) they'd rather gradually bleed money from customers in f2p instead of letting them pay once and be done with it?
 

Cether

New member
Mar 29, 2011
37
0
0
I played a lot of Evolve after it went free 2 play, and honestly while you could tell that Turtle Rock was in the trial and error phase as far as what a f2p economy is like it was for the most part very fair to players. Also they were very enthusiastic with their communication to the player base, which is a big plus to me personally.

Yes Evolves launch and post release dlc was a huge load of shit the likes of which should not be forgotten, but they earned quite a bit of my trust back with how they handled Evolve Stage 2. Consider me cautiously optimistic.
 

distortedreality

New member
May 2, 2011
1,132
0
0
I hope they do well.

Yes, the whole Evolve fiasco was a mess, but I would hope that they have learned from that experience and can put out something as great as L4D was.