Summary
Bloober Team, the Polish game developer behind the upcomingSilent Hill 2remake, has announced a new project that’s just getting started in collaboration with Skybound Entertainment. The studio first drew attention with the2016 release ofLayers of Fear, a psychological horror game heavily inspired byPT,the playable teaser for the cancelledSilent Hills.In the years since, the company has released a steady stream of horror games:Observer, Layers of Fear 2, Blair Witch,andThe Medium.
Skybound, the entertainment company with which Bloober Team has announced its new project, was co-founded byThe Walking Deadcreator Robert Kirkman. It has branched into a range of media, from comics to television and films to video games. Skybound Games, its gaming subsidiary, focuses primarily on publishing indie titles but also helped develop the final two episodes of Telltale’sThe Walking Dead: The Final Season.
Now, the two companies are teaming up for a new game project codenamed R, which is just starting up and is expected to premiere sometime in 2025.In the announcementfromBloober Team, the company revealed that it has signed a licensing and publishing agreement, which leads one to the conclusion that the new game will not be an original IP. Little else was revealed about the project, other than the fact that it may bring to bear Bloober’s “horror know-how.” President Piotr Babieno stated, “I am sure that it will be a successful cooperation.”
In June 2023,Bloober Team stated that it is done creating psychological horror gamesafter theSilent Hill 2remake. The studio is actively transforming itself into version 3.0, which will be aimed at creating “mass-market horror.” Project R with Skybound definitely seems like a first step in that direction, and many people will likely speculate that the aforementioned licensing agreement may involveThe Walking Deadsomehow.
We have known each other with our friends from Skybound for a long time and I am sure that it will be a successful cooperation.
Kirkman’sThe Walking Deadhas experienced extreme popularity in the realms of comics and television shows, but Telltale is one of the few studios to successfully bring the post-apocalyptic world to video games. There have certainly been many attempts. Despite high sales, November’sThe Walking Dead: Destiniesbecame a meme on social media for the wrong reasons, and Ocean Interactive and Skybound Games halted development of anddelisted the asymmetricalThe Walking Dead: Betrayalfrom Steam just three months after its launch. So, ifThe Walking Deadis the direction Bloober Team is headed with Project R, perhaps the zombie franchise will see a recreation to rival Telltale’s.
