“Fallout meets Dishonored is a shortcut.” There is little doubt that Raphael Colantonio, who was a co-founder of the immersive simulation maker Arkane and is currently working on his second business, WolfEye, is aware of the significance of a hook. However, after the release of Weird West in 2022, the company launched its second game, which is a rich, open-world immersive simulation game with substantial role-playing game features. The game is set in an alternate version of the American Old West. Within the week that has passed since its announcement, Colantonio has made an effort to provide a spectrum that his game does, in fact, fall on. Dishonored is an example of a more “pure” immersive simulation game, whereas Fallout: New Vegas is located at one extreme of that scale. We need to go back more than twenty years in order to comprehend where the new game from WolfEye fits within this spectrum.
When I hear Colantonio talk about his new game, one of the first things that comes to my mind is the enormous amount of ambition that went into developing it. When I brought up the idea of a deep, first-person immersive simulation for a firm that is just starting out, he dismissed it as a ridiculous idea: According to him, “We had the same on Arx Fatalis,” referring to Arkane’s first album, which was released in 2002. Nine people made up our squad, which was much less than usual. What makes this situation different is that when you commit to doing these things, you also commit to carrying them out to a certain degree. As the degree of execution increases, the amount of time required increases, and the level of difficulty increases.
It should come as no surprise that a company with a history of developing immersive simulations would not be willing to make concessions in terms of gameplay detail. “Are you going for ultra-realism, which takes forever and ages really quickly, or are you going for stylized, which gives you a little bit of a shortcut from a production standpoint and also ages gracefully?” Colantonio asks. “There is an obvious place to make some efficiency savings.” What is the answer to this question? Taking a look at some older Zelda, you see that it is still adorable. On the other hand, there are some other games in which the developers attempted to be realistic, and at the time, the quality of the graphics was undoubtedly rather impressive. Moreover, it seems as if you are unable to even look at it anymore.
An honorable legacy
According to him, the reason why Dishonored has been so successful is because of its stylistic choices. The statement made by Colantonio is “I do think Dishonored is still pretty.”You are still able to view precisely what it was that you wanted to see so long ago. Still present is the “big picture,” the portion of the graphics that most effectively conveys the emotional character of the show. There is a strong argument that Dishonored is still Colantonio’s most successful game. In addition to being a critical darling that resulted in the creation of numerous succeeding entries, Arkane DNA is also a perfect example of a topic that Colantonio revisits on multiple occasions. According to many, Dishonored was “the most popular game that showcased that DNA.” In any case, what does it truly mean?
The explanation that he gives is that “there is a foundation on simulation.” ‘In every respect, our systems, and the way we have designed the world. Unlike other companies, we do not create levels that are nothing more than a front for gamers to be drawn into. Our approach is to create a simulation of an environment. You may not be able to go right in the front door, but you could absolutely Blink up to an open window. This is the most important part of the process, which is establishing how an actual place would function. This means that any non-playable character (NPC) may be slain, their corpse can be looted, and the treasure might sometimes reveal an item that the player wasn’t necessarily expected to see. “As a component of the simulation, we make it possible for the players to go back and break the rules. The gamers will be able to express themselves in ways that are surprising and will feel great because there is always this layer of what we don’t display, but it is still there anyhow.
Immersion, breaking
In addition to the conventional immersive simulation, Colantonio has begun to see the value of this design philosophy. When you think about it, you may think it would make that design spectrum more confusing, but in reality, it helps shape it. He claims that Skyrim and Baldur’s Gate 3 both have great immersive simulation features. Skyrim is no exception. It is pointed out by Colantonio that there is a very little amount of filler. Because there is always a purpose for every location to be the way that it is, it is possible to visit all of the regions. I get the impression that Larian is a person who shares that value with us. “I cheated the game with legit, legal systems, and it felt amazing,” he says, of his experience in Baldur’s Gate 3, in which he avoided a combat by sneaking around it rather than confronting it head-on. Moreover, it is precisely the type of thing that we have done in each and every one of the games that I have directed in the past, and that is exactly what we are going to do again here. By providing the players with all of those tools, it would be ideal if they discovered a clever technique to hack the game. It is up to them to accomplish it.
“Prey” is a game that Colantonio described as “the most open stuff I’ve ever directed.” The concept of providing the player with more tools is what brought him to the game. A game that was “much more RPG” than its predecessor, Prey, was created by providing the player with tools that were not accessible in Dishonored. If, at one point in time, Prey was the most open game he had ever produced, then this new game has the potential to completely undermine that title.
He teases, “I’m going one step further,” and then continues. In addition to the framework of the environment, we also provide the player with a large number of tools to use. When compared to Dishonored, Prey provided a greater number of tools; but, in this game, we intend to provide even more tools. Items that are more RPG-like include Stats, speech, and dialogue that are dependent not just on stats such as Speech, but also on the things you may have done, your history, or any characteristic or perk that you could have found out about yourself.
WolfEye’s selection of the location is largely responsible for the fact that the immersive simulation seems to have been preserved. Colantonio explains, “We really love to have a story for every character,” and he is certainly not wrong. “If you develop a role-playing game in New York, since you suddenly have millions of people to describe, then you are sort of screwed. A universe in which there are not a great number of persons or places, but each and every one of them has a narrative is the kind of world that we would want. Initially, WolfEye was drawn to the Old West for its initial game, Weird West, and now for its follow-up game, WolfEye, because of this concept, as well as Colontanio’s love of Fallout: New Vegas. In settings similar to a Western, we like the straightforwardness and the cliches that are prevalent. Those worlds are understood by humans despite the fact that they have a very straightforward aspect. There are fewer small groups of individuals, and there is a certain degree of lawlessness; this provides the ideal conditions for the participants to tell stories and feel free.
Family Tree
Colantonio regards WolfEye and the work it is doing today as a logical continuation of the games he developed at Arkane, despite the fact that there are new inspirations. It is certain that this is the case. “Arkane DNA” “was built over 20 years,” but it does not imply that it is solely to the credit of one particular studio. “There’s been a few companies that have made some significant games in the history of games, and then spawned a culture of other games or other companies that share that DNA.” As he recalls New Vegas, he stresses the importance of It being from the Black Isle where Obsidian originates, and it was also from the Black Isle where InXile originated. There is a genetic similarity between all of these businesses. The executive producer of WolfEye, Julien Roby, joins in and says, “We don’t want to appropriate, obviously, but we are a branch coming from the same legacy.” WolfEye is a branch that originates from the Arkane tree.
In the aftermath of Arkane Austin’s unexpected shutdown following the loss of Redfall – a totally different game but one that nevertheless exhibited glimpses of that DNA—the legacy of Colantanio’s first firm is more difficult than it was when he left it. In spite of this, he continues to refer to Arkane as “my child.” Always and forever, I wish them the very best. Our friendship with the folks who lived there has not ended. The decision to do anything they want with it is now entirely up to them. Despite this, I continue to be interested in it. It seems as if Colantonio believes that Arkane and WolfEye are more than simply distant relatives that share the same ancestor; rather, he considers them to be members of the same family. “We’re a lot of former people from Arkane,” he said. Taking a look at it in 1999, a significant number of the individuals who were there at the time are now employed at WolfEye. Indeed, we are brothers.
Password: FamilyTree