By John Walker on May 14th, 2012 at 4:00 pm.
Oh thank goodness – I was just getting all cross about something entirely unrelated to games, and then games made everything better! There’s a team made up of developers formerly of Irrational, Harmonix, and Iron Lore, wonderfully called Eerie Canal Entertainment. And they’re making a game about monsters who travel through history to kill people. Where you play as the monsters. It’s called Dreadline, and it’s PC only. I want it. There’s a teaser and more details about it below.
I’m assuming the nature of the video has little to do with the way the game will play, since it’s to be an RPG/RTS hybrid. However, it seems you can expect the art style to be similar, as the engine they’ve created is designed around bringing artist Steven Kimura’s drawings to life. You’ll play as a team of monsters, who have a time machine, whose job it is to kill those who are doomed to die in history’s disasters. They explain it as,
“A Diablo/Freedom Force mashup, but faster and with more blood!”
Well, take a look. The last line might be the best line there’s ever been:
Dreadline Teaser from Steven Kimura on Vimeo.
Eerie Canal recently formed in Boston, by Bryn Bennett (programmer on Freedom Force, lead programmer on Titan Quest) and Steven Kimura (2D artist on System Shock 2, artist on BioShock), names that reach as far back as Looking Glass really. Also on board are Arthur Inasi, an audio lead from Harmonix, Aaron DeMuth and Mallika Sundaramurthy, both former Harmonix artists. Which sounds good to me.
We’re in the process of hunting them down to find out more.
14/05/2012 at 16:03 ceemko says:
This looks rather morbid… consider me interested.
14/05/2012 at 16:07 crumbsucker says:
Games made everything better? Thanks, games. Thames.
14/05/2012 at 16:34 Warcrea says:
After coming to this site for over a year, this comment is what finally made me register. I just had to say how much I appreciate the reference.
Thanks, Crumbsucker.
Thumbsucker.
14/05/2012 at 16:57 funkstar says:
bless you, warcrea.
blarcrea.
14/05/2012 at 17:06 jussipe says:
Write that down!
14/05/2012 at 17:21 brulleks says:
Wrown?
14/05/2012 at 20:06 jussipe says:
No, Imhotep is invisible.
14/05/2012 at 23:39 jaheira says:
Because Imhotep is invisible he’s almost impossible to see.
14/05/2012 at 16:10 JFS says:
I have never seen a game trailer voiced in fully-Xtreme exploitation mode (TM) before. Oh yeah. I want this game.
14/05/2012 at 16:15 webrunner says:
Irrational people? Making a freedom-force like game? WHAT WORLD IS THIS THAT IT IS GOOD
14/05/2012 at 16:16 Sp4rkR4t says:
Do want indeed.
14/05/2012 at 16:21 dontnormally says:
Did you purposefully not link to their site but instead to the sad story, in japanese?
Is it some kind of Brit-only April 1st-alike today?
14/05/2012 at 16:25 John Walker says:
Oh bollocks. Thanks. Will fix.
14/05/2012 at 16:27 dontnormally says:
Literally Laughed Outloud
14/05/2012 at 16:30 John Walker says:
That website was linked as from one of the artists on the game, on their Mobygames page. Hence its being in my cut-and-paste memory.
14/05/2012 at 17:40 sinister agent says:
Quick, imply it was some kind of creepy fetish link instead!
15/05/2012 at 00:10 dontnormally says:
…Have you never heard of cut-and-pasting?
15/05/2012 at 14:26 sinister agent says:
Yes, I have. I was making out that John had cut a questionable link from another tab, and pasted that instead of what he thought he’d copied. That was the joke. It’s even funnier now I’ve had to painfully explain it, of course.
14/05/2012 at 16:24 povu says:
I guess half a second of gameplay is more than most first trailers give. :P
14/05/2012 at 16:27 psychoconductor says:
Looks interesting.
14/05/2012 at 16:29 RedViv says:
Cheerfully evil? Do want.
14/05/2012 at 16:35 Dominic White says:
Freedom Force, but instead of being about golden-age superheroes, it’s about time-travelling, poorly-dressed monsters? I approve.
15/05/2012 at 08:12 xcopy says:
Me too!
Both Freedom Force Titles were fantastic, I completed the first game about 10 times. I hope this game has some of the same charm, fun and replayability.
14/05/2012 at 16:42 Archipelagos says:
Worth a purchase for that last line alone. Fantastic concept.
14/05/2012 at 16:43 Buemba says:
““A Diablo/Freedom Force mashup”
Huh, how peculiar. I believe reading that gave me an erection.
14/05/2012 at 16:43 Squire says:
Whats the unrelated thing that’s unsettling you? I must know.
Brewdog is unsettling me just now, I hate their beer and their faces. On a related note are there any people on here that live in Glasgow, dress like a punk and like beer?
Also this game looks really funtimes. Will check it out.
14/05/2012 at 16:49 Jimbo says:
You had me at ‘Former Freedom Force’. To the Freedom Flyer!
14/05/2012 at 16:49 alundra says:
How dare them to do anything different than Freedom Force?! Give me Freedom Force 3 you M*******ers!!!!
14/05/2012 at 16:49 Lambchops says:
Alas I am no longer in Glasgow and don’t look like a punk. I do however enjoy beer, of which Brewdog are a great producer of.
EDIT: This was meant as a reply to Squire above.
14/05/2012 at 16:50 Maldomel says:
Monsters travelling back in time to kill people. I’m in!
14/05/2012 at 16:54 Phantoon says:
But can you talk to the humans, as a monster?
14/05/2012 at 17:25 Deathmaster says:
Ghost… or Tampon Girl?
14/05/2012 at 17:41 sinister agent says:
The ghost of Tampon Girl.
14/05/2012 at 17:56 Stense says:
Sounds like a wonderfully deranged set up. One to keep an eye on for sure.
14/05/2012 at 18:19 DestructibleEnvironments says:
So Ghost Master with more murder? I wish for this.
14/05/2012 at 18:20 Zeewolf says:
Dreadline. That is a very good name. I don’t need to know any more, really.
14/05/2012 at 19:02 apocraphyn says:
An ARPG where you travel through time to re-enact various historical disasters/murders?
Well, that’s me sold.
14/05/2012 at 19:53 Jason Moyer says:
I know next to nothing about this game, but Irrational/Iron Lore making a Diablo/Freedom Force mashup = want want want.
14/05/2012 at 20:00 Phasma Felis says:
So is the idea that the monsters like killing people, but they don’t want to mess up history, so they only massacre dudes who were going to die anyway? It’s good to see time-travelling monsters taking some historical responsibility for a change.
14/05/2012 at 20:10 Gnashy says:
Freedom Force, and especially Freedom Force vs The Third Reich are games that are constantly passed over on various “Best Games of All Time” lists. They both get proper attention on my personal list, with FFV3R taking one of the top three spots for best PC game of all time.
Gameplay, art-style, story, presentation…the only place FFV3R lacked was a co-op campaign option (I still hope that someday a homebrew patch is released for co-op).
If Dreadline a spiritual successor, I’m definitely pre-ordering/supporting it on Kickstarter…whatever needs to be done.
But I second an earlier comment: Where the hell is Freedom Force 3? Seriously disappointed in Ken Levine for how the Freedom Force series has been handled since the release of FFV3R.
14/05/2012 at 21:08 miiqq says:
http://cdd.me/1sw
14/05/2012 at 22:54 brat-sampson says:
Line-wise I’ll still take ‘The only power beyond the mind’s comprehension is the power to comprehend the power of the Mind.’
15/05/2012 at 10:27 sneetch says:
This… this is the greatest of all games.
16/05/2012 at 05:08 a passing bee says:
RPGCodex has done a quick Q&A with Dreadline devs: http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=8169
The answers are generally vague, which is to be expected at this point, but there are some interesting details there.