Prince of Persia designer's classic Karateka getting "interactive documentary" from Atari 50 studio
First in new series, launching this later year.
Digital Eclipse, the studio behind last year's acclaimed Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration, has announced it's giving a similar "interactive documentary" treatment to Prince of Persia designer Jordan Mechner's 1984 classic Karateka later this year on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and PC - as part of a new series of releases, each one focusing on a different seminal game.
Things kick off with The Making of Karateka, a historical delve into Mechner's noted martial arts game that'll combine interviews, video, design documents, audio, and photos to create what the studio is calling the "deepest, most exhaustive exploration of the making of a single video game that's ever been attempted in a video game itself."
"In The Making of Karateka," the studio explains on Xbox Wire, "you'll meet Jordan Mechner - not the legendary veteran game designer we know today, but the unknown teenage college student who was desperate to break into the video game business. Through excerpts from his college journals, galleries of his design documents, and all-new video interviews, you'll share Jordan’s struggles and triumphs as he creates a video game like no one had ever seen before."
In addition to its archival material, The Making of Karateka will feature the original 1984 game, unfinished prototypes (including the one Mechner used in his pitch to publishers), and the newly created Karateka Remastered, promising updated graphics, music and gameplay. The package also includes prototypes for and a new version of Deathbounce, a shoot-'em-up created by Mechner when he was 17-years-old.
Digital Eclipse says The Making of Karateka - which is coming to Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, Switch, and PC (via Steam and GOG) - will be the first in its new Gold Master Series, a line of "interactive documentaries" telling the "full stories of games that changed the world."