Kane & Lynch sequel unveiled

By Tom Bramwell Published 18 November, 2009

Dog Days for PC/PS3/360 in 2010.

Square Enix Europe has officially unveiled the rumoured sequel to 2007's Kane & Lynch.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days thrusts the titular criminal duo into the Shanghai underworld and is due out on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2010.

"Gamers are always looking for something new and that is exactly what they are going to get with Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days," said Niels Jørgensen, general manager of developer IO Interactive.

"A special thanks to gamers worldwide for their feedback. They are certainly in for a shock as we, with immense pride, welcome back our two dear, violent and somewhat unfortunate friends."

Publisher Square Enix Europe - of which IO is a part since the acquisition of Eidos - promises a visual style "inspired by documentary filmmakers and the user-generated era". Apparently it's going to "deliver a fresh perspective to the words 'intensity' and 'realism' in videogames", too.

The original Kane & Lynch: Dead Man was a cover-based shooter in which the bonkers duo were busted out of jail - on the way to death row no less - by other criminals who want their money back.

We thought it was rather good, although it suffered somewhat next to Gears of War and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, both of which were released the same year. Check out our 7/10 review for more.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (35) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • barnard666 #1 2 years ago

    Oh dear (the last one really didn't deserve a sequel)
    Edited by 1 at 18/11/09 @ 14:03

  • myiagros #2 2 years ago

    i quite enjoyed the last one when played in split screen coop. Hopefully this will be a tighter, better refined version.

  • BabyJesus #3 2 years ago

    Argh, HITMAN DAMNIT TO HELL!!!!!

    GIVE ME HITMAN!!!

    /ahem

    carry on.

  • glaeken #4 2 years ago

    The first game had a lot of potential and was even great in some sections so I think a sequel is actually a good idea on this one as they may just get it completely right this time around.

    If they can just make it a bit closer to the goodness that was Freedom fighters I will be happy.
    Edited by 1 at 18/11/09 @ 14:09

  • Darren #5 2 years ago

    Funny 'cos I actually enjoyed the first game although I never played it right to the end (quelle surprise!), not because I thought it was rubbish but because I got sidetracked by other games released at the time. I never did understand why people hated it so much really. Kane and Lynch were nasty, unlikeable characters for sure but it was action-packed, played well enough with no major niggles and featured some nice, varied locations. The split screen co-op was a nice bonus too.

  • Skire #6 2 years ago

    I highly doubt it myiagros

  • Beano #7 2 years ago

    As a dane, I'm ashamed by this rubbish!

  • the_dudefather #8 2 years ago

    The best thing about Kane and Lynch was the creation of Giant Bomb

  • BillyBrush #9 2 years ago

    Do you get to infiltrate Gerstman Manor?

  • Kannan7 #10 2 years ago

    As a Dane I hope they do well.

  • bad09 #11 2 years ago

    Heh, funny I've been playing K&L again recently (even got past the bloody helicopter this time!).

    I think it was judged harshly then and still do, I thought it was an enjoyable action game with a good (if silly) story. Not brilliant but far from rubbish.

    I'm up for more if they address the problems of the first, hell I'm even up the the movie!
    Edited by 1 at 18/11/09 @ 14:22

  • systems #12 2 years ago

    Will this one get nominated for a GOTY award before it's out too?

  • Whizzo #13 2 years ago

    I really enjoyed the first one on PC, it was flawed but there was plenty to be entertained by.

    Hopefully the sequel will be rather more carefully put together as there were definite signs it was rushed, there being no real explanation of what the hell happened when you were in the streets of Havana and that difficulty spike then was pretty crap.

  • Peew971 #14 2 years ago

    If it's really polished (the Asassin's Creed 2 route) and has online co-op it can be great, I loved the first one. Just don't put it in Q1 2010.

  • Genome #15 2 years ago

    I really don't see how this can be better than the "somewhat decent, but not worth a more than a rental"-quality of the first one. I really can't. Even the press release seems to know this, trying to pump up more interest than it's worth:

    "inspired by documentary filmmakers and the user-generated era"

    "It'll look like it's shot with a low-def Sony Handicam set to YouTube-mode. Also has lots of shakycam."

    "deliver a fresh perspective to the words 'intensity' and 'realism' in videogames"

    "We have no idea what this means, but buzzwords were needed."

  • tripitaka #16 2 years ago

    "Gamers are always looking for something new and that is exactly why we've decided to release a sequel"

  • Spanky #17 2 years ago

    I wanted Freedom Fighters 2, get it fubbin sorted... you're starting to annoy me IO, do what i tell you, do it now, it's what people want!

  • Whizzo #18 2 years ago

    A new Freedom Fighters would be good, it's one of their best games.

  • IMD1_Pk #19 2 years ago

    I'll skip it like I did the first game. If it weren't a crime I would go to stores and start burning their copies of the game. It got Jeff Gerstmann because of complaints by eidos and that's a good enough reason for me.

  • IneptPercy #20 2 years ago

    I am another person who enjoyed the first game on my PC, it worked, it was mostly fun and looked quite nice.

    Yes there is better games but there is also a lot worse you can play.

  • MrE26 #21 2 years ago

    I enjoyed the story & setting of the first one, but the controls were frustrating as fuck. Trying to take cover was an absolute joke, & aiming with any sort of precision was pretty much impossible. Fix the controls & make the co-op online, & i'll buy the sequel.

  • linksdad #22 2 years ago

    Terrible game with terrible graphics. I picked it up for £7 thinking it couldnt be as bad as people have said. It was.

    They need to try MUCH harder.

  • Keir_Eidos #23 2 years ago

    @ MrE26 - I'm a community manager at Eido... sorry, Square Enix Europe.

    I was in a presentation of the game a while back delivered by some guys from IO. The first question I asked them was about controls, aiming and cover. The answer is they have listened to all the feedback from K&L:DM (there was quite a lot after all) and they have completely revamped the controls and the mechanics. They've been testing them intensely and they're really solid.

    Of course, there'll be more detail on this in the run up to release. Hope that helps, sort of - I just wanted to underline the fact that the devs at IO took on a lot of the feedback from the first game.

    Edited by 1 at 18/11/09 @ 17:51

  • justice-ste #24 2 years ago

    Hopefully they'll sort some of that god awful weapon accuracy (or lack of) out, some other niggles too.

  • Grayvern #25 2 years ago

    Given their track record of late iom surprised anyone's giving them the time o fday I don't hold much hope.

  • space_ace #26 2 years ago

    typo- it's not "dead man", but "dead men". also, shanghai is insane and great, therefore perfect setting! great news

  • espibara #27 2 years ago

    Kane and Lynch = shit game thats now gettinga sequel

    Freedom Fighters = amazing game thats just been ignored.

    SORT IT OUT IO you fucking morons

  • organica #28 2 years ago

    Well, I liked the first one quite a bit. Especially the bleak-as-fuck plot. So I'm happy about this.

  • Vin #29 2 years ago

    "Gamers are always looking for something new and that is exactly what they are going to get with Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days blah blah blah".

    Who fucking voted for another K&L? Every man and his dog wants another FF, and they somehow deduct that we want another utterly average shooter.

  • Pastici #30 2 years ago

    Chalk up another for Freedom Fighters! The ending set up a sequal for cripes sake!

  • Cyclone #31 2 years ago

    Excellent news. The first Kane and Lynch was a good game. Very underrated. I would have preferred to see a new Hitman game before this though; Blood Money came out in May '06. It's been a long wait since then.

  • UncleLou #32 2 years ago

    First one was very good, at least the PC version, and looked stylish as hell, with incredible faces.

    Really looking forward to the sequel.

  • Zebula77 #33 2 years ago

    ...whatever, just give us a sodding next-gen Hitman, dammit!

  • dingo75 #34 2 years ago

    PC Version was ok (no problems aiming etc.).

    Story was kickass (especially the bad ending option) and showed why they both are such freaks.
    Hope the sequel will continue in that tone.

  • kongzi #35 2 years ago

    They should drop the "user generated" angle. That's just gonna mean they're gonna try really hard to make it look like they didn't try. That never works. Just give me polished graphics that represent the state of the art in technology and design and we're good.

    The first kane & lynch had some pretty good ideas behind it that never really worked out. Sticking to one location seems like a good start, anyway. Still, I'd be more interesting in a new take on Hitman. I miss stealth games.