Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, the story of two lost brothers searching for their missing father, is near completion and is rapidly approaching its release window. Swedish filmmaker and game director Josef Fares wanted to show just how far Brothers has come since our last preview, so Shacknews was given the opportunity to go hands on with an early chapter from Starbreeze Studios' latest.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is Starbreeze Studio's next game, a downloadable title that's aiming to do some pretty clever things when it comes to in-game storytelling. The project was conceived by award-winning Swedish filmmaker Josef Fares, and tells the tale of a couple of young siblings who embark on a quest to find a cure for their ailing father. Fares, who is serving as both game and creative director on the project, stopped by to demonstrate an early build of the game last month, which turns out to be a visually-impressive, creative, and surprisingly ambitious adventure game.
Chronicles of Riddick and Syndicate developer Starbreeze today finally lifted the wraps from its mysterious project 'P13' codenamed, revealing Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons. A far cry from its usual ultra-violent FPSs, the collaboration with Swedish film director Josef Fares is a grand fairytale adventure of two brothers on a journey to save their dying father with a monstrous chum.
Having sat on large chunks of its back catalogue for several years, EA has recently started digging up old properties and bringing them back. It didn't work out so well for Starbreeze's FPS reboot Syndicate, EA Labels boss man Frank Gibeau has said, but that hasn't put EA off its necromancy.
Developer Starbreeze Studios is now working on three different games internally, but none of those projects are the sequel to its most recent offering, Syndicate. On top of those three titles, Overkill Software--which will be acquired by Starbreeze--is continuing to work on improvements to Payday: The Heist, in addition to developing a sequel to the robbery-based multiplayer.
Syndicate and Chronicles of Riddick developer Starbreeze is picking up fellow Swedish studio Overkill Software, maker of recent co-op crime FPS Payday: The Heist. Gosh, imagine the co-op larks that could be had if they put their game-brains together.
Starbreeze Studios, the developer behind the recently-released Syndicate, is trying its hands at a free-to-play title. The project is currently codenamed "Cold Mercury." While this will be the studio's first attempt at a F2P game, the studio wants to assure fans that it will continue making "AAA" games.
Some Syndicate players have complained of game freezes, particularly on the Xbox 360. EA tells Shacknews the team is working on the problem, but in the meantime it offers a quick fix users can take to mitigate the issue.
Read more: Possibly a conflict between Party Chat and in-game chat »
Unlike many of EA's other games, Syndicate won't use an Online Pass system, the publisher has confirmed. Partners titles, like Syndicate and Crysis 2, aren't required to carry one. The move is being touted as a means of encouraging players to try out all of the game's features, including its co-op play.
"We want as little resistance or barriers to entry as possible," EA Partners executive producer Jeff Gamon said.
Read more: 'We got away with it' due to lack of competitive multiplayer »
Syndicate is launching in February, but you'll have a chance to preview it alongside friends later this month with a co-op demo. It features one full mission, putting players in the shoes of Wulf Western. The goal is to infiltrate a competing syndicate, Cayman Global. Once there, you'll have to assassinate Colonel Enrico Gabron, steal some blueprints, and high-tail it back across the Atlantic with his people in tow.
As Starbreeze's FPS reboot Syndicate limbers up for launch, a new trailer showcasing its co-op mode presents a handy opportunity for cyberpunk fans to settle in advance an important question: which character will you play?
Starbreeze's Syndicate reboot came out swinging with a February 21 release date, then actually had the audacity to move it even closer. That has put the developer into "blitzkrieg" mode according to executive producer Jeff Gamon, but the studio leadership is staying positive despite the long hours.
Read more: 'This is the exciting phase of game development' »
Though Australia is finally working on implementing an 'adults-only' rating for video games, it's moving slowly, and another game has been effectively banned down under for now. The victim this time is Starbreeze's FPS reboot Syndicate, singled out for gore, dismemberment, mutilating corpses, and killing civilians.
Read more: Gruesome descriptions of the troublesome content »
Who knew violence could be so... sexy?
Starbreeze's upcoming Syndicate reboot is the beautiful blonde girl in the club. Even surrounded by dozens of other games at a preview event last week, it commanded my attention. Although a FPS, it managed to look unlike any other game on show. Controller in hand, I couldn't help but be impressed by how stylish it looked, how smoothly it played, and how polished everything was.
I can't wait to get a second date with Syndicate, but I'm afraid that behind the beauty, there's might be no brains.
The Syndicate reboot is moving the series into FPS territory, meaning you'll be spending a lot of time looking at the game's weapons. EA's new trailer highlights some of the tools of the trade, and shows off the weaponry with brutal aplomb. The soothing lady-robot voice that narrates the video is almost enough to make you forget she uses phrases like "harbingers of doom."
"I really love the amount of verticality you can see in the art style."
- one random winner See all 9 comments