Santiago, Chile-based studio ACE Team has announced that it has licensed Valve's Source engine to create its action-fantasy title
Zeno Clash for a forthcoming PC release in 2008.
ACE describes the game as action "with a strong focus on melee combat set in a punk fantasy world." The studio promises "up close and brutal combat in a first-person perspective," played in "battle scenarios where the adversaries are always dangerously close and the use of exotic firearms and artifacts is a commodity." It says the title will deviate from traditional FPS shooting in a way that will "feel fresh for players."
Valve director of business development Jason Holtman expressed his enthusiasm for the title in a release, saying it will "expand the use of Source into new gameplay and visual styles," and promising that as Source moved forward, "we will continue the tradition of supplying underlying technology for such innovative projects."
Said ACE designer Andres Bordeu, "Working with Source gives us the features, tools, and flexibility we need in an engine to bring to life a game world beyond anything seen before. Source is an incredibly flexible engine that lets us create environments with rich visuals, expansive and highly-detailed believable characters that interact with players in intelligent-and challenging-ways. We look forward to delivering a fantastic experience to gamers in 2008."
