Developer IO Interactive had gone on quite a winning streak with its recent trilogy of Hitman games. All three of those titles earned quite a bit of praise from players and critics for their open-ended, expressive gameplay and expertly crafted level designs. But after about a decade of developing nothing but Hitman games, it appears that IO Interactive will finally branch out and try something new. Earlier today, the Hitman team revealed that it currently has a new online fantasy RPG project in development.
According to the announcement page on IO Interactive’s website, the developer stated that the project will build upon “our creativity, our capabilities, and in some sense our identity.” The studio aims to have the game expand over the course of several years, which echoes the regular content updates of its recent Hitman titles. Although this new project will have a familiar feel to it, it will nonetheless provide an experience atypical of the usual IO Interactive fare.
The new project is not a Hitman RPG from the team
Additionally, IO Interactive labeled this project as “a deeply personal one,” which had its roots well before the studio began developing games. The studio listed the Fighting Fantasy book series as well as fantasy-themed tabletop games as some of its major inspirations for the project. Mainly, the developers find inspiration in the idea of multiple people coming together and using their individual talents to create something bigger than what they could manage alone. And since IO Interactive consists of multiple studios from across the globe, the developers can really put that idea into action with this new project.
The announcement of an RPG from the Hitman developer may come as a surprise to many, but it appears it has waited for a long time to make a game like this. Hopefully, its passion and lofty ambitions for this project will pay off.
Image via IO Interactive A/S
