Developer Frogwares, known for titles like The Sinking City and the Sherlock Holmes series, has announced a brand new game – Project Palianytsia. Envision as a mix of Victoria-era mystery and eldritch horror, its first official reveal is planned for Summer 2022. No platforms have been announced.
In a studio statement outlining its difficulties following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Frogwares said, “To be frank, ‘Palianytsia‘ is not the project we had originally planned on doing next, but with the war taking place, we needed to re-evaluate everything. It is a bit more streamlined than our latest open-world titles but it’s a game we are sure we can deliver under these extreme circumstances.
“As an independent studio, we always have to balance our resources and workflow to be able to deliver our games. But the war has thrown notable hurdles at us and our established process. Constant communication and iteration between teams is harder to maintain, so we need a project where staff can have more autonomy.
“Roles and responsibilities had to shift around to fill the gaps left by those who signed up to fight or provide humanitarian aid. And the threat that tomorrow something could happen somewhere or to someone that would force us to drastically adapt all over again means we need to be more flexible. With this in mind, we had a decision to make.
“Do we go ahead with a large scope project and risk disruption, have less room for R&D and innovation, less access to your highly skilled staff, and have smaller pre-production and development of specific tools? Or perhaps we can be smarter about this, and create a project with an easier turnaround and a tighter scope – but still ambitious, packed with quality, and with great storytelling and mystery behind it. This way, we can not only make a new game, but do so while supporting those fighting.”
Along with a proper reveal, Frogwares is also looking at “other ways” to bring the game directly to players. More details on the same will be shared soon.
Frogwares’ last title Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One released on November 16th 2021 for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. The previous-gen versions faced a delay for the sake of more polish but the war caused even more issues. As a result, only the PS4 version could be released with the Xbox One version being delayed indefinitely. You can check out our review for the game here. Stay tuned for more details on Project Palianystia in the meantime.
