Arkane founder is working on an all-new game that's even 'more ambitious' than his last one
There's good news and bad news for fans of the action-RPG – immersive sim crossover Weird West: The bad news is that it doesn't look like we're getting a sequel, but the good news is that developer Wolfeye Studios is working on something brand new and even "more ambitious" than its first game.
Wolfeye was founded by Arkane founder and former creative director Raphael Colantonio in 2019, two years after his departure from Arkane, and counts former Arkane executive producer Julien Roby as CEO. Their shared history at Arkane really shone through in Weird West, Wolfeye's first game (which also featured a number of other Arkane veterans in various development roles), an isometric immersive sim set in a supernatural twist on the Old West.
I had high hopes but fairly low expectations for Weird West because I really wasn't sure how well a non-first person immersive sim would work, so it was a genuinely happy surprise for me when it turned out to work really well. It's easily one of the best games I've played in 2023. (Yeah, I was a little late actually getting to it.)
In that light, it's a little bit disappointing that I won't be able to dive back into that world (for now, at least) but I'm very pleased that there's something bigger (and hopefully even better) on the way. Word of the new project came by way of a partnership announcement between Wolfeye and venture fund Galaxy Interactive.
Some news for our fans! https://t.co/nTEudqV781May 11, 2023
"Our partnership with Galaxy will allow us to maintain our independence, while also allowing us to get more ambitious with our next game," Roby said. "Which is a dream situation to be in!"
The announcement said Wolfeye will spend "the next months" expanding the development team and working on a prototype "for an ambitious new IP," which in case there's any doubt "is yet to be announced." I guess that also squashes my hopes for Arx 2. Maybe someday.
One fan of Wolfeye's work took note of the fact that Galaxy Interactive's portfolio includes a number of NFT-related ventures, including ClubNFT, ImmutableX, MetaverseGo, NFTfi, and Polygon, and gently expressed hope on Twitter that Wolfeye's new project would not also involve NFTs. Colantonio indicated in a reply that it would not.