We now have reason to believe that the still undisclosed The Witcher game, codenamed Project Sirius, will have co-op and PvE.
Several job listings made by CD Projekt RED directly name their newly acquired Boston studio, The Molasses Flood. The Molasses Flood was best known for making The Flame and The Flood, and was also working on a new game in the same vein, called Drake Hollow, when they were acquired by CD Projekt RED. These listings also make mention of these and other features of Project Sirius.
To run these listings and details down;
- Senior World Builder
- “help us bring the exciting world of our upcoming stylized game to life.”
- Senior Multiplayer Designer
- “Experience with action design.”
- “Experience with co-op multiplayer design.”
- “Experience prototyping in Unreal Engine on multiplayer Co-Op/PvE titles.”
- “you will actively work on engaging multiplayer gameplay features, game modes, player progression and social systems, driving them all from concept to implementation.”
- Senior Combat Designer
- “Pitch, prototype, implement, balance and ship a wide variety of enemy types, including core enemies and bosses.”
- “Help balance combat-related systems such as player leveling and experience, weapons, and damage.”
- Narrative Director
- “Familiarity with branching and non-linear storytelling.”
- “Experience working on games with cinematic storytelling and voiced dialogue.”
- Technical Game Designer
- “Experience working with procedural generation systems.”
- “Design experience with systems heavy action/adventure games.”
As you can see, some of these details match up to what we already know and expect from The Molasses Flood, based on their games The Flame and The Flood and Drake Hollow. Overall, they form a big picture of a new The Witcher game that won’t just be an open world single player game, but also one that may or may not be in full 3D. An isometric or partly 3D perspective game could make a world of a difference for this The Witcher game’s design.
CD Projekt RED announced their acquisition of The Molasses Flood as part of their roadmap for the future of The Witcher game franchise. Their interest in the studio is as a company that they believe shares their values, in spite of the big differences between their games. CD Projekt RED also wants to expand their The Witcher games to more than what they themselves specialize in.
It would be safe to say The Molasses Flood fans consider the studio highly creative and experimental. With CD Projekt RED backing, Project Sirius promises to be at a scale and ambition broader than the games they have made before. But they also have to deal with the huge expectations from The Witcher and CD Projekt RED fans to create a new experience, at a quality they are used to. It will be interesting to see how their initial salvo under such a situation will turn out.
