Crytek has been rather busy this year, showcasing not one but two intriguing VR titles with Robinson: The Journey and The Climb. However, it’s also been very quiet about some of its other previously announced games like Arena of Fate and Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age. Both of these games were announced back in 2014 and since then we haven’t heard much about them.

GamingBolt spoke to Niklas Walenski, game designer on The Climb and Robinson: The Journey, and he confirmed that both games are indeed alive. “Both games are still in development and we can see weekly progress. We hope we’ll be able to share interesting news soon.”

Does that mean more details at E3 2016 or sometime sooner? Walenskin simply said, “Let’s wait and see.”

Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age is essentially a free to play, cooperative third person shooter that focuses on procedurally generated maps, waves of enemies and teamplay (not unlike Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide).

Arena of Fate on the other hand is a free to play MOBA that’s been in closed beta seemingly forever and focuses on historical and fantasy characters battling out. What major developments could be in store for either game? Stay tuned for more information as E3 2016 draws near.

HUNT: Horrors of the Gilded Age was first announced back in June of 2014 and there hasn’t been much in the way of information since that first announcement. Cyrtek came forward with a cool looking trailer that reminded some of Left 4 Dead and in hindsight made the game look quite a bit like The Order: 1886. Finally we’ve gotten a tiny bit of new information about the game that shows at the very least, it hasn’t been canceled.

We did know that development of the game was actually moved from Crytek USA to Crytek Frankfurt and now the CryEngine’s Brand Manager Marcel Hatam has taken to Twitter to announce this game’s development is “going well.” That was also the extent of the information Hatam was willing to actually let slip even when he was pressed on any other details about when people could see a demo or even a plan on a release schedule.

Hatam responded that he didn’t really have the ok to say anything other than the fact the development was continuing but he wasn’t going to be letting anything else slip. This isn’t exactly shocking considering how under wraps the development has gone so far. At the same time, it’s still a bit odd that we’re two years out and Crytek can’t give any more information. It’s still coming, and HUNT: Horrors of the Gilded Age is expected to be released on the PC, PS4 and the Xbox One when it finally does launches, but that launch date isn’t yet known.

The game is going to be powered by Crytek’s 4th Generation Cryengine, which unlike previous builds does not carry a numerical entry in its name, is currently being developed for release on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows PC’s. While the game hasn’t been given a release date at this time, likely due to Cryteks current financial difficulties, the game is slated for release at some time in 2015.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

The current state of Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age is largely unknown due to internal developments within Crytek. It was revealed in June of 2014 that Crytek had missed paying due wages to staff and that bonuses for employees in their UK and USA offices and this led to claims of Bankruptcy, which were later denied. Whether or not the game is still being actively developed is unknown.

Not long after in July of the same year, Crytek announced that they would be performing restructuring of a large part of their company, this caused the development of Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age to be shifted to their Crytek Frankfurt offices.

This transition of workplaces coupled with the departure of a lot of disgruntled staff is most likely the explanation for the cancellation of the game’s Beta which was previously scheduled for late 2014. On December 13th, probably in relation to the above mentioned issues as well as other unconnected Crytek ongoings, the Beta for Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age was cancelled and since then no new information has been released regarding the date of the Beta.

One of the reasons for the Beta delay is said to be the relocation of the Cryek Austin teams development to the Frankfurt team.

Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age was first announced to the public on June of 2014 when it was revealed to be the first game developed by Crytek USA. The game was being built from the ground up with the goal of being a cooperative title, with David L. Adams, a video game designer who previously worked on the popular Darksiders games, having said “one of the first things we said when we got here was, we are absolutely doing a four-player co-op game. That wasn’t even up for discussion.”

Because of the game’s obvious thematic similarities to Ready At Dawn’s The Order: 1886, Adams posited that there were in fact few similarities between the two games saying that his game was much more “authentic” than The Order.

The game is said to feature procedurally generated stages, meaning that no two missions would ever been similar, but it’s likely that the game will have a number of predetermined assets which will make up the mission structure.

Story

At the minute, the story elements of Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age have not been revealed, what we do know is that the game is said to be a “spiritual successor to Darksiders” and that it will “have a lot of the DNA”.

Gameplay

The gameplay that we’ve seen thus far of Hunt: horrors of the gilded age has shown to game to be a cooperative third person shooter, but there was little worth remarking on given the fairly simplistic gameplay on show.

A common complaint about the gameplay is that it doesn’t show any hint of being a spiritual successor to Darksiders nor does it show anything that makes the game stick out. Contrary to their claims, the game is much more reminiscent of The Evil Within or Resident Evil 4. This is in regards to both the shooting mechanic and the overall visual style.

Characters

At the time of writing, it has been confirmed by Metro that the characters that the player will be taking control of aren’t restricted to specific classes. Furthermore, Crytek is yet to decide on how character customisation will be implemented.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

Crytek UK is no more and development of Homefront: The Revolution has shifted to Dambuster Studios with the IP being acquired by Deep Silver. Crytek has revealed that free to play co-op shooter Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age will be shifting development from Crytek USA to the home office in Frankfurt.

However, sources speaking to Kotaku revealed that studio head David Adams, along with other senior staff at Crytek USA, have quit following lack of pay. About 30 to 35 employees have left the studio as of last week. It seems that Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli told staff members in May that a bank deal would be put together by June 20th so despite weeks of no payment, the team at Crytek USA still kept going. After June 20th though, staff members simply stopped going to work with some already going to new places to work.

One source connected to Crytek USA stated that, “Everyone at that studio was incredibly talented, and they got scooped up quickly by studios that actually pay their employees.”

Is this the end of Crytek as we know it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Crytek has announced a new multiplayer IP for PC and consoles just in time for E3. HUNT: Horrors of the Gilded Age will be a third person co-op action title wherein four players team up to face various hulking beasts and monsters. It’s being billed as the debut title from Crytek USA and will be showcased at E3 from June 10th to 12th. Check out the reveal trailer for the game above.

CEO of Crytek USA David Adams said, “In HUNT: Horrors of the Gilded Age, players will be counting their bullets and crying out for help as they delve deeper into the shadowy world we’ve created. From the outset of the development process, we’ve poured our imaginations into the game so that everyone who plays HUNT will discover a challenging experience that feels fresh, captivating and rich in possibilities.”

HUNT will take place in the late 1800s and involve various myths and folklore. A special content generation system promises that you won’t see the same environment and fight the same enemies twice. HUNT enters closed beta testing for PC later this year and you can sign up for the same here.