Vancouver Island is now home to
Hinterland, a new independent studio formed from some triple-A heavyweights, including veterans of BioWare, Riot, Volition and Relic.
The new studio is headed up by Raphael van Lierop, formerly of Relic and Ubisoft Montreal. Joining him are former
Saints Row and
Red Faction developer Alan Lawrance, who will serve as technical director, and former BioWare audio producer David Chan, who is coming aboard as audio director. Ex-Riot art director Hokyo Lim and
God of War alum Marianne Krawczyk are also among Hinterland's founding members.
Describing itself as "focused on creating story-driven gameplay experiences that feature mature themes and an element of social awareness," Hinterland's first announced project is
The Long Dark, a first-person survival sim.
"It's a more realistic, mature take on the post-disaster genre than what we've seen in games so far," founder van Lierop explains. "And no zombies!"
Hinterland is planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign for
The Long Dark later this month.
