Hazelight Studios New Game Will Be Mechanically Insane

Hazelight Studios, the team behind A Way Out, will bring another experience to EA’s lineup of EA Originals. For now, Creative Director Josef Fares remains quiet about what exactly the team has in store. Yet, he has teased that players should expect an experience similar to his previous two projects–Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and A Way Out. Thus, a story told from the perspective of two characters simultaneously is expected. But what else might the unannounced title offer players? According to Fares, it will feature challenging mechanics and a mind-blowing narrative.

Fares spoke of this in a Gamelab Barcelona 2019 interview with VG247 and Rock, Paper, Shotgun. As is the Fares way, he did not mince words. In explaining the methods behind his design preferences, he noted, “I like to make [players] not really know what’s going on, surprise them, like a rollercoaster. With Brothers and A Way Out, especially the ending, people go, ‘What the heck is going on?’ The next game will be like that. That’s why I call it mind-fucking.”

He confirmed that while the next project isn’t a sequel to past projects, players that enjoyed those games are likely to enjoy the new one, too. The story will be similarly designed it seems, but fans should anticipate Hazelight’s upcoming title to lean much harder into gameplay mechanics. Fares explained,

What I can say is it’s not A Way Out 2. But if you look at Brothers, A Way Out, and the next game, you will see it’s the same studio that makes the game. But it will be something completely, totally different and it will be way more focused on trying to make the mechanics a part of the game, but it’s going to be something with a story that will remind of Brothers and A Way Out but in a very different way.

Fares continued, expressing his love of “multiplayer story games.” Of course, there aren’t many of them. Still, Fares sees the potential in such stories being explored further, especially since we typically experience film as audience members.

I believe there’s a lot of potential in telling great stories for more than one person. If you look at the movies today, when we look at them we look at them together, we experience stories together. I believe that multiplayer story games are underestimated–there’s a lot of potential there that I’d like to explore. But who knows, in the future I’d like to try different stuff–it depends what idea pops into my head.

When Hazelight will be ready to unveil its new game remains to be seen.

[Source: VG247]