Crytek, FPS, Open world, guerrilla warfare, coop, only new consoles and pc
That open world is the fightin’ city of Philadelphia, seat of the American Revolution and the setting for Homefront: The Revolution, planned for launch in 2015 on PC (Windows, Mac OS and Linux) PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Its events unfold four years into the occupation of the United States by the Korean Peoples’ Army, or roughly the year 2030 in the original canon’s timeline. Players inhabit the persona of a fighter named Ethan Brady along his journey to becoming a radicalized American patriot.
Ideally, Salim said, Homefront: The Revolution will emphasize completing a single mission objective and running like hell from overwhelming reinforcements, as opposed to going full Rambo and shooting every enemy in the face.
I imagine it can be kind of like Red Faction Guerrilla (except with the dynamic destruction) or like Saboteur. Doing hit and run missions here and there, destroying checkpoints, etc.
Crytek joins the open-world game club. Big jump for them.
Other than the fact that there simply are not enough North Koreans to occupy the US (yes, we all know it’s the Chinese in NK uniforms but don’t say it too loudly), could be interesting.
There was a rumor that some of the Crytek Engine demo stuff was for this game. I don’t know how much of that will actually be recognizable in the shipped game, but it’s obviously likely that the devs would prep stuff and some of that could’ve found it’s way into the demo materials.
This was one of the rumored “exclusive third-party reveals” for Microsoft’s E3 press conference. Since it’s coming to PlayStation, this is obviously not true.
As for my opinion, I can’t think of a less exciting IP. I’m flabbergasted that anyone bought this license after the dismal performance of the first game.
For what it’s worth, the North Korean army is larger than the Chinese army. Although is the premise that civilian populations have moved to the US? Never played the original.
Anyway, I’m always up for open world shootnanigans, and I really dug Crysis 3. Hoping for good things.
From what I remember, it wasn’t really NK, but NK that had been absorbed South Korea and other countries and it was in close alliance with China, something like that.
Different developer (Crytek UK, creators of Timesplitters), and different gameplay concept, so sequel just in nae.
The first game actually sold decently on the back on a huge marketing spend for THQ. IIRC it was in the neighborhood of 4 million units. And considering Crytek had been working on the game for a couple years at the time of THQ’s dissolution, buying the rights back for $500K made a lot of sense. That’s not much money if they liked how the game was shaping up and it gave them the freedom to shop it around to other publishers with no strings attached.
Homefront was a nice game. Enjoyed the storyline as well. Cant say I ever noticed any brand placings in the game though, was this only on the PC version?
Maybe I am weird, but I didn’t think of Homefront branding as ads, but more immersion. Deuce Bigalo ads in planetside 1 were ridiculous, but the recognizable storefronts in Homefront made the Red Dawn experience much more immersive than brand neutral modern game settings. The game itself was clunky and fairly forgettable though.
These kinds of ads only bother me when they break immersion. It’s not so much that there are ads or sponsors, it’s that you see ONLY the ad brands and nothing else. For example, fighting around NOS Energy Drink vending machines wouldn’t bother me if there were also Coke, 7UP, Yoohoo, or other machines. If there were more restaurants than Hooters, I’d accept the world of Homeworld more. That kind of thing.
I enjoyed the idea of the US being invaded for once but what little I played of the game felt like an even tighter corridor than usual. The fact they are dropping this theme into a Crysis sandbox makes me feel a little more optimistic about the sequel.
New developments point to more trouble ahead. Over the past two days, I’ve spoken with four people connected to Crytek’s UK studio, which is currently developing Homefront: The Revolution. According to those people, Crytek’s UK staff have still not been paid the full amounts they are owed, and this week, according to two sources, the staff at Crytek’s UK office handed in formal grievance letters and went home.
One person familiar with the studio estimates that around 100 people have left, though it’s unclear how many people plan to leave permanently and how many would like to stay with Crytek UK, which has been consistently losing staff for the past few months.
Rumor around the studio is that Crytek and Homefront publisher Deep Silver are currently negotiating over what will happen next. Employees at Crytek UK, which is based in Nottingham, are hoping that Deep Silver will purchase the studio and continue funding development of Homefront: The Revolution, according to two people connected to the company.
Deep Silver has acquired the Homefront IP from Crytek. They will develop it internally.
Koch Media Acquires Homefront® IP – New Development Studio Founded
Nottingham-based Deep Silver Dambuster Studios to take over development of Homefront: The Revolution
Larkspur, Calif., July 30, 2014 – Today, Koch Media together with its publishing label Deep Silver announces that it has acquired the Homefront® brand and all coherent assets from Crytek. This includes Homefront: The Revolution which was previously announced on June 2nd, 2014. The development will be continued in newly founded, Nottingham-based Deep Silver Dambuster Studios.
“We are thrilled to see another great IP joining the Deep Silver universe,” says Dr. Klemens Kundratitz, CEO of Koch Media Group. “We strongly believe in the potential of Homefront: The Revolution and trust in the new team to continue the path they have been walking in the last years.”
Deep Silver Dambuster Studios is the third development studio within the Koch Media Group, joining Deep Silver Volition and Deep Silver Fishlabs.
One can only assume that the “newly founded, Nottingham-based Dambusters Studios” is staffed with former Crytek UK/Free Radical devs?
EDIT: I guess. “We strongly believe in the potential of Homefront: The Revolution and trust in the new team to continue the path they have been walking in the last years.”
