Former Borderlands 3 and Elder Scrolls Online creative director Paul Sage is heading up a new studio called Ruckus Games, which is now working on a "secret multiplayer title" in which players will "smash, grab, and grow" as they fight back against a mysterious attack on their heartland America hometown.
Ruckus is made up of former members of Gearbox, Riot Games, Blizzard, Epic Games, and Monolith, among them Scott Kester, who Ruckus said "played a pivotal role in transforming Borderlands' pre-release gritty aesthetic into the iconic, colorful graphic novel style that came to define the series."
The new game, which doesn't yet have a title, will feature "a large roster of playable characters and thousands of unique make-shift weapon combinations," like a toaster that can shoot sawblades or a power washer modded into a flamethrower.
"Take to the streets, destroy whatever you want, find cool new weapons and resources, and rescue NPCs to take back to your Hometown, a living centralized hub," Ruckus said in today's announcement. "Here you can customize, build, and upgrade over time allowing you to enhance your weapons and abilities to head out even stronger for another round of chaotic fun."
"We want games where people have fun from the get-go," Sage said. "Games that are physical, joyous, and just a damn good time to be shared with others."
Ruckus said it wants to utilize "a community-centric development process that focuses on getting direct feedback from players from the very start." I'm not a player but, since they sort-of asked, I have to say that based on what little we can see of it at this point, it sure looks (and sounds) a lot like Redfall, Arkane's sent-out-to-die vampire shooter. The studio also said it's secured $19 million in funding, noting that "investors were sold on Ruckus’ premiere project after playing a mere 20 minutes of its vertical slice demo," and that gives me immediate flashbacks to Sony's big buy-in on Firewalk Studios in 2023, which did not end especially well.
Those may not be the most auspicious first impressions possible, but it's way too early to judge anything—as I said, this game doesn't even have a title yet, much less any gameplay to show off. The studio announcement says Ruckus was founded by "seven developers [who] saw an industry willing to take risks on huge budgets and recycled mechanics but unwilling to take risks on new gameplay and experiences for players," and that's a very big, bold statement, but who knows? Maybe there's something genuinely new and interesting going on over there. I certainly hope so.
We will hopefully get a closer look at what the team has cooking fairly soon: A release target hasn't been announced but Ruckus is inviting those with interest to sign up for updates and playtest invitations at ruckus-games.com.
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