Shortly after leaving Arkane Studios, Raphael Colantonio and Julien Roby, two of the company’s lead developers, opened up a new independent firm called WolfEye Studios. This studio, which only had 20 employees at the time of its establishment in 2019, released its first-ever project, Weird West, in 2022. Unlike most of Arkane‘s games, such as Dishonored and Prey, Weird West was not a stealth-focused first-person title, but rather an isometric action RPG, vaguely similar to Fallout 1 and 2. Although it was met with mostly positive reception, it wasn’t the kind of game people expected from former Arkane developers.
WolfEye Studios’ next project, however, seems to be more in line with Arkane’s previous works. In August 2024, WolfEye announced that it was working on a first-person immersive sim with action RPG gameplay and a retro sci-fi setting. Although WolfEye Studios didn’t reveal what the name of this game was at the time, it did announce earlier this month that the RPG would be published by Neowiz, a major firm located in South Korea. Neowiz is a perfect fit for WolfEye Studio’s upcoming project, considering the type of game it is.
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Neowiz is the Perfect Publishing Partner for WolfEye Studios’ Next Game
Neowiz is the Korean Developer and Publisher Behind Lies of P
For those out of the loop, Neowiz is a video game developer and publisher that has been around since the late 90s. Throughout most of its existence, the company has primarily worked on Korean live-service games, such as the Maple Story-esque MMO Tenvi, but it has also developed the DJMax rhythm game series, which has grown a large fanbase in Asian countries. In recent years, Neowiz has even started to publish singleplayer indie games from countries all around the globe. It wasn’t until recently, though, that Neowiz truly put its mark on the map.
In 2023, Neowiz released the Pinocchio-inspired soulslike Lies of P on PlayStation, Xbox, and Windows PCs. The game, which was developed in partnership with Round 8 Studio, was the first AAA singleplayer project that Neowiz had ever worked on. Despite the company’s inexperience in the field, Lies of P ended up being an outstanding success. It sold over 1 million copies in its first two months on the market and received accolades from many major outlets.
Both Lies of P and WolfEye Studios’ Upcoming Immersive Sim Are Steampunk-Inspired
Since they’re in completely different genres, many gamers will probably not draw a lot of comparisons between Lies of P and WolfEye Studios’ upcoming immersive sim. With that being said, they do have one thing in common: a steampunk aesthetic. Lies of P combines the Belle Epoque setting of 1800s France with the imagery of classic steampunk fiction. The influence of the genre can be seen everywhere in the game. There are many characters and items in Lies of P, in fact, that are anachronistic or outright fantastical in nature. Some of the game’s bosses, like the King of Puppets and the Puppet of the Future, look like they’re straight out of a steampunk fantasy novel.
WolfEye Studios hasn’t shown much of its next project yet, aside from a few pieces of concept art, but given that the company describes it as a retro sci-fi game, it’s clear that its aesthetic will be similar to Lies of P and Dishonored (which also takes place in a steampunk setting). Because of this, it’s great that Neowiz has partnered up with WolfEye Studios to publish this upcoming immersive sim. It is, after all, quite fitting for the company to follow up its latest steampunk hit with another game that has a similar setting. WolfEye Studios’ new project will probably have little in common with Lies of P from a gameplay standpoint, but the fact that they both share a steampunk art style is a neat coincidence.
Neowiz
- Date Founded
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April 26, 2007
- Headquarters
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Seongnam-si, South Korea.
- Subsidiaries
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Neowiz Games