InXile Entertainment - Hunted: Demon's Forge Announced

[Dhruin]

So, inXile's project to be published by Bethsoft has been revealed and it isn't Wasteland 2 - or even close. Introducing a co-op action dungeon romp titled Hunted: Demon's Forge.
BETHESDA SOFTWORKS TO PUBLISH HUNTED: THE DEMON'S FORGETM
Next Gen Co-Op Dungeon Romp Being Developed by inXile Entertainment for Xbox 360, PlayStation®3 and Games for Windows
March 15, 2010 (London, UK) – Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax® Media company, today announced that it will publish Hunted: The Demon’s Forge™, a third-person co-op fantasy action game. Hunted is being developed at inXile Entertainment for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Games for Windows.

inXile Entertainment was founded in 2002 by industry veteran Brian Fargo. During his distinguished tenure in the video game business, Fargo has been behind some of the greatest fantasy game franchises of all time including The Bard's Tale®, Baldur's Gate®, and Fallout®. Hunted’s development is being overseen by Fargo while Michael “Maxx” Kaufman serves as the game’s Director. Previously, Kaufman served as Art Director on such titles as Kingpin™: Life of Crime™, Redneck Rampage™ and the award-winning Return to Castle Wolfenstein® at Gray Matter.

“We are thrilled to be working with Bethesda Softworks on this upcoming release that takes us back to our roots,” said Brian Fargo, Founder of inXile Entertainment. “Bethesda’s track record speaks for itself and the game we are developing for them is no exception.”

“inXile has an extremely talented team and we couldn’t be more pleased to have them working on one of our upcoming titles,” said Vlatko Andonov, President of Bethesda Softworks. “We believe gamers will be really excited about what these guys have in store for them.”
You can Meet Brian Fargo (http://bethblog.com/index.php/2010/03/15/inxile-files-meet-brian-fargo/) at the Bethblog, read previews at CVG (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=239146) and Eurogamer (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/hunted-the-demons-forge-preview), plus there's an interview at IGN (http://ps3.ign.com/articles/107/1077531p1.html) that roams some other topics such as Fallout and Interplay.
Here's a snip from the Eurogamer preview:
This genre, Fargo tells us, has its roots in Dungeons & Dragons and the earliest days of computer programming. He namechecks Lord British (doesn't even think to call him Richard Garriott), Wizadry (which he personally became addicted to in the early eighties), Bard's Tale, Ultima, Might & Magic and Dungeon Master. He sprints into the nineties and notes a trend towards action in Ultima Underworld, the first Elder Scrolls game, Hexen and Heretic.
It's all useful context, if only because the game Fargo and his colleagues Matt Findley (president) and Maxx Kaufman (game director) proceed to show us bears little surface resemblance to any of the above. It's a muscular third-person action game designed around two-player co-op play, with brutal melee combat, ranged shooting through a tight over-the-shoulder camera, a clean display, scripted set-pieces and a cover system. Apart from some fairly standard dark-fantasy trappings, it looks like a lot of games Fargo doesn't mention: Uncharted, Gears of War and Army of Two spring to mind.
...and something about an elf character from the IGN interview that told me everything I need to know:
IGN: So, Elara the Elf. Do you not think that she'd get a bit cold? She's not wearing very much.

Brian Fargo: We do not think that. Did you know the elves have this amazing temperature control? Most people don't know that. She's actually quite warm, and would like to take off what she is wearing if she could. In Germany they were actually thinking they could have her topless.
And they say games aren't art..

More information. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=14598)

[Gokyabgu]

"third-person co-op fantasy action game" :-/

[Wulf]

Nah, "third-person co-op fantasy ACTION ORIENTATED game" there's the defined difference straight from the horses mouth - leaning more toward action but not necessarily all action as suggestive of "action rpg" - clever stuff - a nice wriggling out of the bandwagon cliche but a worthy definition all the same.

...no mention of a PC version though. :(

[hiciacit]

…no mention of a PC version though. :(

Uhm: "Hunted is being developed at inXile Entertainment for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Games for Windows."

[Alrik Fassbauer]

In Germany they were actually thinking they could have her topless.

Hilarious ! :lol:

[Thaurin]

This actually sounds pretty cool to me, in a non-RPG kind of way. If they add online multiplayer to this, it could be amazing!

[Wulf]

@hiciacit, my error indeed, though it seems the console is leading through development exposure?

"It is true that playing on a PC can get tricky when things seem to work fine one day and the next it’s all messed up and you can’t figure out why."

Check out the "interviews" re:-
Matthew Findley, President, inXile entertainment and Michael “Maxx” kaufman, Creative director, inXile entertainment —>
http://www.gamersyde.com/news_first_look_hunted-9064_en.html

I found the "drop-in / drop-out" part interesting.

[joxer]

No RPG? No me. :D

[DarNoor]

I'm donw with Fargo. I thought i would give him a second chance after the Bards Tale remake. But, after reading this, i give up on him.

[crpgnut]

Wow, this guy didn't learn his lesson. His remake of Bard's Tale failed miserably and now he's going to fail again. He's using the DW Bradley school of success model :(

[xSamhainx]

yeah, that Bard's Tale remake was truly awful - one of the quickest install/uninstalls of my gaming career

[fatBastard()]

I actually quite enjoyed playing the Bard's Tale remake. This one could be interesting as well.

[cutterjohn]

Doesn't sound the least little bit appealing to me, and it really doesn't sound like much of an RPG at all. Seems to be more of an action-adventure at best.

I did read somewhere that they said it "looked" "pretty" though...

I wonder if this means that if they ever bother to try making TESV that it'll give up all pre-tense at being an RPG and just go for the fpp twitch melee and delete ranged combat altogether...

[JDR13]

This looks like a co-op version of Demon's Souls.

[JuliusMagnus]

Doesn't sound the least little bit appealing to me, and it really doesn't sound like much of an RPG at all. Seems to be more of an action-adventure at best.


Wow, Sherlock. Nowhere did they claim it was an RPG.

I wonder if this means that if they ever bother to try making TESV that it'll give up all pre-tense at being an RPG and just go for the fpp twitch melee and delete ranged combat altogether…

Irrelevant statement in regards to this game and developer. It seems that like so many, you haven't grasped the difference between Developer and Publisher.

[Korplem]

In the preview they say that it has RPG elements… So, it could still be a hybrid.

crpgnut, I think you're way off. This is a very marketable game to the 360 crowd. I think they just found their franchise label.

[crpgnut]

Oops, you're right, Korplem. I should have said that they shouldn't bother porting it to Windows. I believe these types of games do well on the consoles. I'm too narrow-minded :)

[zzajin]

8 minute interview with Brian at GiantBomb (http://www.giantbomb.com/hunted-the-demons-forge-interview/17-2180/)

[The Hulk]

This game sounds like it could be somewhat similar to Blade Of Darkness(a game which I enjoyed and played to the end). If it's even close, I might have fun with it. I'll probably wait to see what the demo is like first.
Strange though, how in all the interviews with the developers of this game that I have seen so far, neither the developers nor the interviewers mention Blade of Darkness during the interview process.

[wolfing]

bah, a twitch-fest, not an RPG

[Davion]

I wouldn't mind a left 4 dead in a fantasy universe :P

[ToddMcF2002]

Raising the dead here... anyone seen the trailers? Not quite an RPG but it looks pretty awesome and apparently there is a single player mode afterall (a requirement for me anyway)... Looks good in a Blade of Darkness kind of way.

The world looks amazing. There is a new trailer on the main page of gametrailers.com

[skavenhorde]

The only words I want to hear Fargo say is, "We are remaking Wasteland!"

[Nerevarine]

I truly wish there was another game like Blade of Darkness, which in my opinion had the best melee combat system I've ever seen, but I highly doubt anything new will have realistic combat that is similarly deep and challenging. Action games and action-rpgs simply don't try very often at breaking away from simple hack n' slash - especially when a game is concerned about sales and not wanting to turn off the mainstream. Demon's Souls, which in addition to its stellar combat is also a solid rpg, is the only game I've played that reminds me of Blade of Darkness in terms of rewarding, deep melee combat. The Gothic series is pretty solid in that department as well (except for 3, which was a very enjoyable game post-patching but had more of a hack n' slash combat system. Also, I refuse to include 4 as a Gothic game)

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Why not put them onto the front page ? I mean the trailers.

[LuckyCarbon]

The only words I want to hear Fargo say is, "We are remaking Wasteland!"

Well, he bought the rights to it, we've just been waiting forever for him to do something with it. I can't wait until all the kids come out of the woodwork when it's announced to tell us it looks like a Fallout 3 ripoff ( bonus points if it's declaratively stated like there's no such thing as F1 or F2 ).

It'd be too much to hope for it'd be a turn based party game so I'll just hope for a really atmospheric FPS with a PC-centric UI and controls. Hopefully it's a faithful remake and not a confused comedy remake like Bard's Tale was.

[ToddMcF2002]

The gameplay is supposted to be Gears for War set in fantasyville. Looks like it to me. Not a bad thing.