Ex-BioWare, Relic, Riot, Volition devs announce The Long Dark

A pack of developers from a number of big studios – including BioWare, Relic, Riot, and Volition – have announced the formation of Hinterland Studio, as well as the development of their first game, The Long Dark.

The Long Dark casts players as bush pilot William Mackenzie, stranded in the North American wilderness following a “geomagnetic super storm” that has destroyed America’s technology infrastructure.

It’s an episodic first-person survival game in which you have to explore, gather resources, make moral choices, and try to survive threats both natural and man-made. We’ll likely be hearing a bit more about this in a week’s time, as the game is due to get a Kickstarter on 16 September.

If that doesn’t sound like a solid idea for a game, then maybe the team working at Hinterland will convince you. It’s headed up by Raphael van Lierop, formerly of Dawn of War and Company of Heroes and narrative director on Far Cry 3. There’s Alan Lawrence, formerly of technical director/lead programming/design roles at Volition. There’s Hokyo Lim, former art director on League of Legends and The Unfinished Swan. There’s God of War writer Marianne Krawczyk. There’s audio director David Chan, formerly of Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights… And there are composers Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan, who’ve apparently done music for Borderlands, Quake, and Mass Effect.

So yeah, that’s a pretty impressive line-up. As noted, we’ll likely hear more about The Long Dark next week.