From the “what could have been” files, Avalanche Studios' Christofer Sundberg hinted that the Just Cause team was once working on a steampunk-style game but had to stop development.
In an interview with Edge Online , Sundberg was asked about a picture he posted to Instagram that looks an awful lot like an alt-history Rico Rodriguez skydiving in the sepia-toned rotor wash of an airship.
“I really love that art style, and to combine it with sandbox gameplay is a dream of mine,” Sundberg said. “Fortunately, being an independent developer I can control my own destiny and we'll make something in that world sooner or later.”
If such a game was made, we can be sure that it wouldn't take itself too seriously. Sundberg named action movies as his biggest inspirations in games, saying “We've never had any ambition to go very deep with our narrative and focused more on explosive fun. It's entertainment! I have no ambitions to make players cry or have any deeper feelings. A great laugh and a big smile as players pull off a completely over the top stunt is all I can ask for.”
We've had some fun in Avalanche Studios' other huge open-world game, The Hunter , so we know that Sundberg and company can really get an open-world setting right when they put their minds to it. Imagining that level of freedom and detail and insanity given to a steampunk setting makes me reach for my leather gloves and welding goggles.
