inXile Entertainment, Brian Fargo’s California-based studio set up after he left Interplay (of original Fallout fame, among others), have yet to release a game on this generation of consoles. They did come relatively close in the form of Hei$t, however, before the crime caper was incacerated at the start of this year in HMP Cancellationville with no chance of parole. We don’t name our prisons as such where I’m from but, hey, I thought you’d appreciate the cultural reference.
So the jury’s out, maybe even a mite conflicted, with little to go on regarding the studio’s upcoming fantasy yarn Hunted: The Demon’s Forge other than the developer’s past crimes as reference. (Okay, we’ll stop with the prison metaphor now.) That said, as some of the old Interplay gang who had a hand in classics such as the aforementioned Fallout, Baldur’s Gate and Wasteland are now with Fargo at inXile, it’s fairly safe to assume the guys know a thing or fifty about how to make an adventure game. Not forgetting The Bard’s Tale, of course; inXile’s sardonic “for coin and cleavage” 2004 RPG. It may not have exactly stormed the charts, but it has its fans in far-off, weather-worn taverns.
In terms of plot, Hunted: The Demon’s Forge is fairly formulaic. Soldiers-in-arms E’lara and Caddoc go in search of an artifact after Caddoc has a vision about it. So far, so by the numbers. One of the game’s standout traits, however, is how inXile are treating the title’s co-op feature as very much the cornerstone of the experience. Rejecting other games’ definition of co-op as simply “two people playing together,” Hunted’s dual player action is more nuanced than simply making up the numbers. In an interview with GameSpot, President Matt Findley explains: “We’re co-op in that all of our special skills and abilities are designed to make you work together.” Check out the actual interview below for a further insight into how collaboration works and more details about the game in general. Oh, and don’t laugh, I’ve participated in more awkward Q&As with designers than what’s on show here. No, I won’t reveal details.
We like fantasy games. We like co-op. We especially like women with tattoos on their legs and huge bows and arrows. Let’s see how this beast turns out in Q1 2011.
Hunted: The Demon’s Forge will be released on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 and will be published by Bethesda Softworks.
Dan Lee
I attended the dev session for this at Eurogamer. It’s looks quite good bar some dodgy voice acting.
colossalblue
It’s only just clicked who Fargo and inXile are. More excited now.
Will there be time for all the awesome RPGs that are coming? I’ll have to replace another hour or two of sleep time…
Kovacs
If I’m being honest, I didn’t make the connection either until I did some research. I think I gave it a high mark in the voting period purely based on the fact it had “forge” in its title.
(Kidding – it was because of the boobage on display)
gideon1451
I was a bit disappointed when this was announced, that it wasn’t an Elder Scrolls V. This actually looks pretty good though :)
Charmed_Fanatic
Just looked up Fargo … wow [hehe] this should be good then, will keep an eye on this!
Timesh1993
I like this article because it’s number 69 :)
moshi
is it because its slightly better than 70 but not quite as good as 68
Sympozium
I do like fantasy games… but I’m starting to lose faith in western developers that can’t seem to make it (almost) bug free.
I hope this isn’t one of them or more like Sacred 2 since that was bad (apparantly)