Space Hulk Studio To Make Turn-Based Jagged Alliance

JAGGED ALLIANCE! JAGGED ALLIANCE! JAGGED ALLIANCE! It's no good. I just don't have Alec's endurance when it comes to repeating words for any length of time. I do have a remarkable degree of stamina when it comes to dancing though and I plan to spend the next five minutes doing the Snoopy dance in celebration of the fact that Full Control, who are currently working on a promising adaptation of Space Hulk, are moving on to a new turn-based Jagged Alliance game once Space Hulk has shipped. Hope springs eternal.

Thomas Hentschel Lund, the studio's CEO, had this to say:

It is one of the 3 games besides X-Com and Fallout that really defined the entire genre and is part of our DNA...We are honored and excited to have been the confidence given by bitComposer to give the series a fresh new take whilst staying true to the core mechanics.

Perhaps we are related because it's part of my DNA too. Let's hope the next family reunion is full of jubilation rather than the usual recriminations and disapproval.

bitComposer, in handing over development responsibilities to Full Control, sent these words to the world's press:

We have been keeping an eye on Full Control for the last couple of years and have been suitably impressed with their take on turn-based tactical gaming and in particular their awesome work in bringing the classic Space Hulk franchise back to life...We are excited to learn more about their plans for the franchise.

As are we all, I'm sure. It's definitely going to be fully turn-based and the press release even includes a few words of regret concerning Back in Action:

Jagged Alliance was first released in 1994 and is still counted as one the best turn based strategy games of its time. After the release of Jagged Alliance 2 in 1999 the series slipped back into the cold war and received a reboot in 2010 with Jagged Alliance – Back in Action, which received mixed reactions from the community and press after its departure from turn-based action gameplay.

That's as strong a statement of regret as a press release ever really contains. 'Mixed reactions' can describe even the greatest travesty, as long as the interface designer's mum liked it. Back in Action wasn't a travesty, but as an uncomfortable remix of the superb Jagged Alliance 2, it was something of a disappointment.

More on the new game when we know it.