| Abandoned | |
|---|---|
.svg){kind=logo} The official logo of Abandoned | |
| Developer(s) | Blue Box Game Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Blue Box Game Studios |
| Director(s) | Hasan Kahraman |
| Engine | Unreal Engine 5 |
| Platform(s) | |
| Genre(s) | |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Abandoned is the tentative title for an upcoming horror game developed and published by Blue Box Game Studios. The game will initially launch exclusively for the PlayStation 5, though Blue Box has plans to release the game for PC "eventually".
Synopsis
editAbandoned is a survival horror game that follows a man named Jason Longfield, who awakens stranded in a forest. Through exploration, he realizes that he was kidnapped and brought to the forest for a "dark purpose". He is tasked with fighting his way out of the forest, and the game makes use of some first-person shooter elements.[1] The game is set in an open world environment, and uses a "realistic approach" to survival gameplay, requiring tactical uses of weapons to survive.[2]
Development
editBackground
edit
Blue Box Game Studios, founded by Hasan Kahraman, is a small Dutch video game development studio with roughly 10 full-time employees.[a][4] The studio's first project, titled Rewind: A Paranormal Investigation, held a Kickstarter campaign to garner funding, though the campaign was cancelled, as the studio had secured outside investment, allowing the game to be reworked into Rewind: Voices of the Past. However, after the scope of the project grew without further investment, the game was cancelled. The prospect of a game centering around paranormal investigations continued into The Lost Tape, another cancelled project, and The Whisperer, which was cancelled on PC but saw a release on mobile devices, though it was delisted shortly after. A mobile Japanese role-playing game titled Tales of Six Swords similarly saw a short-lived mobile release, though Kahraman claims that Blue Box plans to revisit the concept in the future. The Haunting: Blood Water Curse, a Fatal Frame-inspired horror game, was released into early access in 2020. After poor reception, the early access release was removed from digital storefronts, and Kahraman claims that development will be completed by outside studio CreateQ, with Blue Box acting as the publisher.[3]
According to Kahraman, the repeated cancellations of projects were due to lack of staff and fan interest—in an interview with IGN, he said that the team's inexperience was largely to blame, and that the announcement of projects served to gauge a potential audience, and those projects were cancelled when the audience was too small.[3]
Conception and production
edit- Abandoned is the game's tentative title.[4]
- The game has been in production since 2015.[4]
- Sony is assisting in the development of Abandoned.[4]
Indefinite delay and asset leak
editMarketing
editInitial announcement
editAbandoned was announced on April 7, 2021. In a PlayStation Blog post, Kahraman outlines the game's themes, and claims that a full gameplay trailer will release "soon".[2]
- "I have to admit that was a big mistake, but it was completely unintentional. [...] We're small and this is the first time we actually got the world stage. We don't have experience with marketing and PR at all. [...] It's really easy to fuck up. [...] What went wrong was we announced everything too soon. Let's be honest, even the app was just too soon. First, we were like, yes, it's going to be [released in] June, but then again, we never thought that we would have this huge world stage. What I'm trying to say is that with this amount of eyes looking at your game, you need to polish it even more. [...] That's definitely something we learned for the future".[3]
Realtime Experience app
edit- https://www.ign.com/articles/abandoned-trailer-reveal-delay
- https://www.ign.com/articles/abandoned-ps5-demo-delayed-technical-issues
Abandoned: Prologue
editRelease
editAbandoned is set to launch exclusively on the PlayStation 5, though Blue Box claims that the game will release on PC "eventually".[4]
Reception
edit- "It’s fair to question Blue Box’s experience with releasing games on the scale of what Abandoned promises to be – but I find it hard to question the conviction of Kahraman to actually make it happen. This isn’t a story of scammers thrust into the limelight – it’s the story of a group of young developers that were handed a much louder microphone than expected, and saying the wrong things to a lot of people simultaneously. Where Abandoned goes from here, and if it makes more mistakes, is up in the air, but Kahraman is determined to prove the doubters wrong".[3]
Hideo Kojima involvement rumors
editGameSpot investigation
editNotes
edit- ^ Including freelancers and outsourced developers, the Abandoned development team is composed of roughly 50 people[3]
References
edit- ^ Valentine, Rebekah (April 7, 2021). "Abandoned, a New Cinematic Horror Shooter, Announced Exclusively for PS5". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on November 17, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
- ^ a b Kahraman, Hasan (April 7, 2021). "Abandoned, a cinematic survival sim, hits PS5 later this year". PlayStation Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. Archived from the original on October 12, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Skrebels, Joe (August 18, 2021). "Abandoned Creator Explains Blue Box's Release History, Promises a Free New Game". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on July 18, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Valentine, Rebekah (June 21, 2021). "PS5 Exclusive Abandoned Will 'Eventually' Make Its Way to PC". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022.