The Darkness dev reworking EA franchise News • News • Eurogamer.net

News PC Xbox 360 PlayStation 3

"Innovative take on a classic property."

Electronic Arts has secured the talents of Swedish developer Starbreeze to rework one of its major franchises for PC, PS3 and 360.

But there's no word on which licence it will be, so we're to use a fancy Project RedLime codename for now.

Starbreeze is responsible for atmospheric comic-book shooter The Darkness and film-inspired romp The Chronicles of Riddick, which is currently being revamped for 360 and PS3.

The press release called it "an incredibly innovative take on a classic property", and said Starbreeze was already "deep in development on Project RedLime" and getting all the time it needs to make it.

"We're excited to bring a new perspective and gameplay innovation to this beloved fiction," said Johan Kristiansson, boss at Starbreeze.

So what exactly is it? Syndicate? System Shock? We're leaning towards a first or third-person affair, probably a shooter.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

Comments (35) Latest comment 4 years ago

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rhinoxious #1 4 years ago

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Syndicate would be excellent, with free roaming city and squad commands

Grand Theft Cyborg!
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tHeReAlPiNkY #2 4 years ago

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Make that Wing Commander EA-Overlords!
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steoc4 #3 4 years ago

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"this beloved fiction" makes me think it could be Syndicate, which could be interesting if they take the world of Syndicate and bring it down to a third person squad based game, that's how I always played it in co-op with friends on Megadrive anyway so I think it could work really well, if done right obviously.

Other candidates I had in mind were Road Rash and Desert Strike but I wouldn't really put them under the heading of 'beloved fiction'
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seasidebaz #4 4 years ago

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lets have skate or die!
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the_dudefather #5 4 years ago

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Theme hospital with a dark and gritty makeover
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JonFE #6 4 years ago

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After the commercial success of Bioshock, it would be surprising to see EA missing the chance to resurrect System Shock .

Edited by 1 at 21/02/08 @ 15:12
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Dragul #7 4 years ago

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I'll put my money on System Shock for now...
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Tomnd #8 4 years ago

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Blatantly System shock to cash in on Bioshock craze. I am kinda hoping its lands of lore 4. That would be sweeeeeeet.
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MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #9 4 years ago

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Two words:

Ultima Underworld
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Turambar #10 4 years ago

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EA's catalogue of games is pretty large. This makes guessing somewaht difficult.
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marilena #11 4 years ago

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Starbreeze could make an awesome System Shock 3. Chronicles of Riddick is much better than Bioshock, in my opinion.
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kangarootoo #12 4 years ago

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My money is on Syndicate, for what its worth.

For some reason I just don't think its System Shock. Maybe it seems too soon after Bioshock, I dunno. Something set in the Ultima universe seems pretty likely too however.

Though tbh that is just what popped into mind. The EA archives are pretty huge so it could easily be something we simply haven't thought of.
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Segnit #13 4 years ago

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Jungle Strike please (however unlikely)
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HarryB #14 4 years ago

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I just completed The Darkness last night... brilliant game.
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urban #15 4 years ago

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syndicate!!! whey!
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Olemak #16 4 years ago

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My vote (and hope) goes to System Shock as well.

"The Chronicles of Riddick, which is currently being revamped for 360 and PS3."

That was news to me, but of the great news variety. Excellent. That was one of the best games on the original Xbox, or so I'm told, but did not really get to fulfill it's potential, I was told, due to the platform being yanked etc.

For one glorious second I mistook Starbreeze for another Swedish game company, that is currently putting the finishing touches on Bionic Commando, namely GRIN. Putting "beloved fiction" and "gameplay based on swinging from tall buildings etc" together, I though maybe we were finally being treated to a decent Spider-Man game! But EA is no longer in partnership with Marvel anyway, so that was wrong all toghether. Wrong, wrong, wrong. So its not Punisher, Wolverine, Moon Knight or anything of the sort, then.

"Project RedLime"? A colour ... and a fruit? Black Banana? Puce Pineapple? No... nothing... hm, intriguing.
It will probably be years and years before we see anything playable, though...
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BlackSentoki #17 4 years ago

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It'll be System Shock. Would fit nicely with Starbreeze's game style.
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Zanuah #18 4 years ago

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Syndicate please...!
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dudefella #19 4 years ago

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Desert/Urban/Nuclear Strike! Strike! Strike!
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Starman #20 4 years ago

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Wing Commander!!!
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DiscoMike #21 4 years ago

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I'm guessing at something something Strike or Road Rash
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tincture #22 4 years ago

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to make a new sydnicate in the form of a FPS, TPS, or any other form of dumbed down S would be a crime. ffs we've already lost fallout, please dont do it to syndicate too!
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agparrot #23 4 years ago

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Syndicate would be nice, wouldn't it?

Probably with all this speculation it'll be something shite, though.

What the hell is wrong with just coming out and telling us?

/pretends not to care in flouncy manner.
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Kingofnothin #24 4 years ago

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I'm putting my money on System Shock 3 along with everyone else, but all the SS fans who though Bioshock was dumbed down then it'll be interesting to see if (they are making it in the first place) its retard proof!
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kangarootoo #25 4 years ago

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One reason it might not be System Shock.

[link url=http://www.eurogamer.net/tv_video.php?playlist_id=5770
]http://ww w.eurogamer.net/tv_video.php?pl...[/link]

Bit too similar?
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Nithron #26 4 years ago

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What if it's something really disappointing and crappy like James Bond?
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bad09 #27 4 years ago

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Maybe it is Wing Commander. Maybe that's why they released the Live game, to bring back awareness of the franchise........
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RexRunti #28 4 years ago

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Wing Commander seems the most sensible suggestion (and we haven't had a decent 3d space shooter since... StarLancer? when ever that was). Though good on the interenet for shouting "Yay Syndicate" it makes it more likely another one will be made.
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Triggerhappytel #29 4 years ago

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I bet it's System Shock. Didn't EA just re-register the franchise last year, before Bioshock was released?

Edited by 1 at 21/02/08 @ 17:03
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mkreku #30 4 years ago

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If it's got anything even remotely resembling "Ultima" in its title, I'm going to crap my pants. Now there's a franchise that really shouldn't be dead.
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Tyronne #31 4 years ago

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Bioforge 2 : resurrection
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NegativeZero #32 4 years ago

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I thought they had another team at work on System Shock 3 already?
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RorSchach #33 4 years ago

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I'm hoping its Bioforge. Nostalgia might be rose-coloured, but I don't think I've played anything with its combination of puzzle/action / story gameplay since then...and the graphics were out of this world when it came out!

Edited by 1 at 22/02/08 @ 12:20
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metalmonk #34 4 years ago

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Flashback is a classic EA franchise.
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john_silence #35 4 years ago

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Starbreeze have a sense of style. Anything they touch I'll be interested in, even if it's a franchise I don't care about.
They should also adapt The Darkness for the PC, like they did with Riddick.
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