It's no secret that the Borderlands franchise has had a bit of a rough time lately. When Borderlands 4 was announced in August, fans were seemingly unsure of the upcoming sequel, mostly because of the stale mechanics and story elements used in recent Borderlands entries. Now, former Borderlands 3 creative director, Paul Sage, announced that he is leading Ruckus Games, a new game studio looking to shake things up in a gaming industry full of game studios "willing to take risks on huge budgets and recycled mechanics but unwilling to take risks on new gameplay and experiences for players."
The rest of the team behind Ruckus is equally as impressive, boasting veterans from the likes of Blizzard, Epic Games, Gearbox, Riot Games, and Monolith. So far, the studio has secured $19 million in funding for its debut release, which is as-yet technically unannounced.
The announcement of Ruckus Games' first release, which seemingly doesn't have a name yet, reads:
"Wanna play a rad, cooperative third-person stylized shooter with unique style, humor, explosive action and some of the stupidest weapons ever? We did. That’s why we’re making it!"
Ruckus is being rather secretive about the new game, although it has shared a few tidbits and some art from the game, which makes it look like it has a sort of cartoonish stylised look to it. The game's visual department is being led by Scott Kester, who apparently had a "pivotal role" in creating Borderlands's iconic aesthetic.
As Ruckus describes it, the new game will be a co-op invasion shooter with survival elements and a "large roster of playable characters and thousands of unique make-shift weapon combinations – like a toaster kitted to shoot saw blades or a modded power washer turned flamethrower." The game also sounds like it will incorporate live-service elements, and it seems as though the in-game world will change over time, similar to the likes of Warframe or Helldivers 2, although likely not to the same scale as the latter.
While the project hasn't officially started just yet, Ruckus Games is currently recruiting playtesters on its website, however, there is no indication of when playtesting will start.
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