Relic/S2/Slipgate

S2 Games’s Unannounced Game

What We Know: You may know S2 Games as the developer behind the FPS-RTS hybrid game Savage and the upcoming sequel Savage 2. What you may not know is that the company is recruiting members to work on an unannounced title that has nothing to do with the Savage series. So far there’s no word on what the secret project will be about.

What S2 Games Says: S2 Games’ PR representative declined to give us any info about their secret game for this article.

What We Think: Savage and its upcoming sequel attempted to mix two genres; however, postings on S2 Games’s message boards only reveal that the secret project will be released before the end of 2007. Considering that Savage 2 has taken longer than previously announced we wouldn’t hold our breath for the secret game to make that date. However we are fans of the original game and are excited about the prospect for Savage 2 so any game that has S2’s fingerprints on it is something we are interested to see.

Relic’s Upcoming Games

What We Know: Relic had a busy 2006 with three games shipping to stores (The Outfit, Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War Dark Crusade and Company of Heroes) but several weeks ago their parent company THQ posted up job notices for MMO and RPG team positions at Relic. Since the Vancouver based developer has worked mostly in the RTS genre (with the sole exception of The Outfit which still had strategy elements) developing MMO and RPG games would represent a very different game design direction for the acclaimed developer.

What Relic-THQ Says: THQ representative did not respond to inquiries by the time of the posting of this article

What We Think: There have been rumors for the past year or so that Relic and THQ have gotten the rights to develop new games in Relic’s classic space based RTS Homeworld series but these reports have not yet been confirmed. But wouldn’t that be cool if it were true? Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long before we find out what those MMO and RPG job positions are really for.

Slipgate Ironworks’ Game

What We Know: Slipgate Ironworks is the new game development studio co-founded by John Romero, one of the main designers behind Doom and Quake who later went to be the co-founder of the infamous developer Ion Storm. Romero’s new company is working on a MMO title but beyond that nothing is known.

What Slipgate Ironworks Says: John Romero did not respond to our inquiries by the time of the posting of this article

What We Think: John Romero has the reputation of being a bit…let’s call it “enthusiastic”…about the game projects he works on so perhaps his silence about what’s happening at Slipgate Ironworks is a change of pace for him. But will the game be worth our time when he finally reveals all? That’s the question a lot of people are waiting for the answer.