'Gears Of War' Creator Cliff Bleszinski Reveals Teaser For His Next Game

Gamers Play a Game by Bungie Inc. at the 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Known as E3, in Los Angeles — IN PHOTO: Gamers play a game by Bungie Inc. at the 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo, known as E3, in Los Angeles, California, June 10, 2014. REUTERS

At the recently concluded PAX East, ex-Epic Games designer Cliff Bleszinski wasn't just busy defending free-to-play games. He used the event as a launchpad to showcase the maiden title launched under the aegis of his brand new studio BossKey Productions. Tentatively titled "Project Bluestreak," the game had received its first teaser video which was kept exclusive to the show floor. Bleszinski has finally released the video to the public domain, along with additional details on the game which is currently under development.

The "Project Bluestreak" teaser contains pre-alpha footage, but it doesn't show much to give any idea about the nature of the game. The game is built on the foundation of the Unreal Engine 4, according to Gamespot. Bleszinski has been intimately familiar with it thanks to his stint at Epic and personal involvement with the "Unreal" IP from its inception.

"We considered several options regarding what technology we'd use to build Project BlueStreak," said Bleszinski through a press release shared with VG247. "Ultimately, we found ourselves coming full circle to my friends at Epic Games and the elegant solution for rapid and quality game development that is Unreal Engine 4."

The video features no character models and appears more like a vehicle meant to showcase the game engine instead. It showcases a series of environments from the game's unfinished multiplayer maps. This includes a futuristic industrial control room reminiscent of the Strogg installations from "Quake 4." The other area featured in the video shows a dramatic shift in the aesthetics. It transitions from the industrial setting to a dojo characterised by a conflicting theme involving samurai armour, assault rifles and a distinctly oriental outdoor area replete with cherry blossom trees.

There isn't much information available about "Project Bluestreak" apart from the various tid-bits Bleszinski offered during his Reddit AMA last year, as noted by Eurogamer. He used the platform to underscore that the game will have a well-fleshed-out lore and history, with a world that gamers can relate to and "feel lived in." The game designer also promised to release live-action shorts on a quarterly basis to pan out the game's narrative.

This is quite out of the ordinary for a free-to-play game, as the genre generally doesn't have too many examples of rich lore building. "Project Bluestreak" will be built around the free-to-play model. That's primarily why Bleszinski spent a sizeable amount of time from his stint at PAX East convincing sceptics of the business model that the core gameplay will not be compromised.

Bleszinski's ambitious maiden project under a new banner is based on a futuristic oriental-themed shooter. That's exactly similar to John Romero's ill-fated "Daikatana," which was also an oriental-themed shooter and his maiden project under Ion Storm. Hopefully, "Project Bluestreak" will pan out better for Bleszinski than "Daikatana" did for Romero.

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