It’s been more than two years since Hazelight Studios released A Way Out. After selling two million units as of August 2019, the developer began teasing its next title. GamesBeat’s Jeff Grubb hinted last month that we’d soon see more moments akin to director Josef Fares’ comments at The Game Awards 2017.

All that hinting will finally come to a head at EA Play Live 2020. Fares announced on Twitter that there would be a “short tease” for his next game on June 18th. At this point, the only thing seemingly confirmed is that it will be another co-op game.

Considering Fares’ experience on titles like A Way Out and even Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, we’re looking forward to the reveal. EA Play Live 2020 will be taking place on June 18th at 4 PM PT. It will likely feature Motive Studios’ Star Wars: Squadrons, which will receive its first trailer today, and the rumored Mass Effect Trilogy remaster (though its reveal is still up in the air). Stay tuned for more details in the coming days.

A short tease about the next game on #EAPlayLive 18 june. Don’t miss it!

— Josef Fares (@josef_fares) June 15, 2020

PlatinumGames’ Game “That Has Never Been Done Before”

There’s a lot going on with PlatinumGames. It’s even developing an exclusive game for Apple’s Arcade platform. Even with these titles in development, studio head Atsushi Inaba confirmed that two of its projects would be “new independent IPs owned entirely by the studio”. Speaking to VideoGamesChronicle, Inaba also said that, “Right now we’re in the middle of designing something that has never been done before. I know a lot of people say that, but the game we’re working on truly is unlike anything else. Even for our varied history of veteran game developers, this is something that has never been designed before.” 2019 is an important all-round year for releases at PlatinumGames but what could make these IPs stand out? Hopefully E3 provides some answers.

If you’ve played Josef Fares’ A Way Out or even Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, the length for both titles would have stood out. While the former is roughly six hours long, the latter only requires three hours to complete. Fares believes that the length of the game should be in keeping with his vision.

Speaking to VG247, he revealed that, “If you look through the statistics of how many people actually play through a game – take a game like A Way Out, I think the playthrough rate on PS4 was around 52 percent.” When told that this was pretty good (especially when many people don’t always finish games), he criticized the industry’s obsession with game length and replay value.

“Yes! And that’s what concerns me, that you think it’s really good. Imagine someone like James Cameron going, ‘Oh, only 50 percent of the people walked out of the cinema, wow, that’s great!’ It’s insane. We have designer teachers who tell their students to focus on the first 40 percent of the game because the rest? People probably won’t see it.

“Why put all that effort in for nothing? We should see games as experiences. It doesn’t matter how long they are. If it’s so common that people don’t play through the games, then why should we even comment on replayability and how long they are? Why should that affect score? It shouldn’t. When my publisher [asked about game length] I was like, ‘Why are you asking that? I’m not even going to answer that s**t’.”

Replay value and game length are both dicey subjects – how do you deliver more content while ensuring it’s at an consistently higher quality? It’s not an easy task. Fares believes that while making a longer game is tougher, it’s all about going with whatever works with his design instead of increasing the game’s length for the sake of it.

Nonetheless, the question of replayability keeps popping up. “Sometimes it feels like we’re serving a table full of food and people get upset when all the food is not there. They’re only going to eat this,” said Fares as he mimicked a bit of food being scooped from a bowl, “But [the rest] has to be there rotten or they get super upset.”

What are your thoughts on the matter? Should games try to throw in as much content as possible at a decent quality? Or should they strive for an excellent experience that could potentially last for a shorter period? Perhaps there could be a balance of both? Let us know in the comments below.

A Way Out is Josef Fares’ second game after Brothers: A Tale of two sons. Just like his previous game, this one also focuses on multiplayer gameplay. In fact, A Way Out even takes things a step further and is an exclusively co-operative experience. The game offers a deep and immersive narrative and it’s bound to be a unique co-op experience for any player who chooses to try the game out.

In this game, players take on the roles of two convicts, Vincent and Leo as they attempt to get out of prison. The game will be played in a splitscreen mode and each player will be seeing and responding to something completely different on their own side of the screen. This will ensure that each player is able to explore the game’s story from a different perspective. If you and a friend are ever feeling stuck at any point in the game, then the following walkthrough will help you out.

During a recent demo with GameSpot, A Way Out director Josef Fares shared even more information on the upcoming co-op adventure title. We learned that publisher Electronic Arts won’t be making “a single dollar” from sales as per Fares but there’s even more interesting information to glean.

For starters, the entire experience will take six to eight hours to finish. Fares is responsible for writing the script though a “script doctor” also assisted. He notes that EA’s approach has been both supportive and hands-off. “If EA wants to make an apple greener, I can say no.”

Hazelight started with only 10 people working on A Way Out but this eventually went up to 40 people. Fares is pretty passionate about the co-op aspect – if offered $10 million to go with a single player title, he would turn it down. He also noted that he’d never make a game with microtransactions.

A Way Out has already gone gold and will be releasing on March 23rd for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Hazelight Games’ A Way Out, developed by the same team and director of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, has garnered its fair share of attention since its E3 2017 reveal. Much of that could be attributed to director Josef Fares’ controversial outburst at The Game Awards but it was trending at last year’s EA Play. There’s definitely something to the title, even if the EA label rubs a few people the wrong way.

Fares recognizes this and has clarified that EA has no creative control over his project. In fact, while speaking to The Sixth Axis, Fares went even further and stated that the publisher was not making “a single dollar” from the game.

“Here’s the thing, and you have to understand this: with this deal that I have for this game, EA is not making a single dollar out of this. Every single dollar is going to the developer. They’re not even making any money and all I’ve got is support from EA.

“They’ve not questioned the vision – they can’t because I won’t allow it – so they’ve been super supportive all the way. Even with this buy one [Friend Pass] thing, no problem,” said Fares.

It’s certainly interesting though not totally unbelievable to think that EA is taking these steps to lay the groundwork for its EA Originals brand. The positive public impression also doesn’t hurt, of course. If more developers are attracted to tie up with the company, then conditions could change down the line. For now though, Fares has a pretty good deal with A Way Out.

The co-op title is scheduled to release on March 23rd for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Check out the most recent gameplay video depicting a hospital escape here.

Josef Fares’ new game A Way Out is set to release next week, and this is his first game after Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Unlike Brothers, this game can only be played in co-op and allows players to follow the story of two prisoners through a splitscreen mode. Now, the achievements  available in the game have been revealed and there are not many of them.

The list of achievements were revealed on Exophase and there are a total of fourteen of them to gain in the game. While this is not much, it makes sense given that the game will be a condensed and concise experience which closely follows the stories of the two prisoners. You can check out the full list of achievements below along with descriptions about each of them and their Gamescore. We’ll have to wait and see how these trophies will be ranked in the PS4 version of the game, whether they’ll be bronze, silver, gold or platinum.

• Take A Breather — You took a break from it all. –  80 GS
• Freedom — You freed someone from captivity. – 50 GS
• In Sync — Music was played in harmony. – 80 GS
• Timeless Treasure — You linked up to get past. – 100 GS
• No Cheating — You exposed some infidelity. – 50 GS
• Break From Reality — You played a videogame with a friend. – 50 GS
• Mayday! — You almost took to the skies. – 50 GS
• Managed Anger — Dark desires done right – 80 GS
• Live The Dream — “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” – 100 GS
• Backseat Mechanic — You helped fix the bike. – 50 GS
• Take It For A Spin — You did what the wind couldn’t. – 80 GS
• You Started It — Not kids anymore. – 80 GS
• The Dip — You set a new record. – 100 GS
• Home Run — You are clearly good with a bat. – 50 GS

A Way Out is set to release on March 23 for the PC, PS4, and Xbox  One.

Hazelight Studios’ A Way Out, developed by Josef Fares of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons fame and published under EA Originals, has gone gold. Fares announced the news on Twitter, noting that his excitement couldn’t be described. “Gone gold” is a term for when principle development on a game has finished and it’s ready for disc manufacturing and retail distribution.

A Way Out was first announced at E3 2017, emerging as one of the sole highlights of EA’s Play event. It focuses on co-op action between two prisoners Vincent and Leo as they struggle to escape incarceration. Split-screen support helps players keep track of both prisoners as they accomplish tasks and cooperate.

Unlike Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, this game is exclusively co-op and can’t be played alone. Releasing on March 23rd, A Way Out will be making its way to Xbox One, PS4 and PC. There will likely be a day one patch so stay tuned for more information on fixes and other tweaks.

#awayout has gone golden. I can't even describe my excitement. Get ready on March 23.

— Josef Fares (@josef_fares) February 26, 2018

Persona 5 Spoiler Bots

When Persona 5 first released, Atlus was so gung-ho about preventing spoilers from leaking that it actually threatened content creators and streamers with account suspensions. To that end, someone created Twitter bots for Persona 5 to spoil the game should it ever be referenced on Twitter. This resulted in the official Persona 5 Twitter receiving spoilers every time “#Persona5” was used. Ah, justice.

A Way Out‘s Josef Fares has delivered one of the most rousing gaming experiences of the last few years with Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, and he looks set to repeat the feat with the upcoming A Way Out, a unique story driven co-op game. A Way Out is unabashedly and unapologetically a co-op game- there is no way to play it by yourself. And even though you can play it co-op online with a friend even if said friend doesn’t own a copy, it’s a setup that can potentially alienate the market.

Is that not something that Fares was worried about, creating a game that was so rigidly sticking to its vision that it might alienate players? Speaking exclusively to GamingBolt, Fares responded to that notion.

“Don’t get me wrong, but I don’t really give a f**k about the market,” he laughed. “I’m a passion driven man, and if this feels right, this is what it’s going to be. Even if someone tells me, ‘you will sell five million units more if you do this’, I will say ‘no, I don’t care.’ This is the vision; this is what the game is. It’s about a split screen experience, the vision is about that story for two players. That’s what it’s designed to be from the get-go, from day one. It was never a single player game. So, that pretty much makes it very unique, it hasn’t really been done before. Most games are single player and then go to split screen. For me it was important to say, ‘no, split screen from day one. That’s it.’”

Fares went on to add that while he cares about the money, he is more worried about meeting his creative and artistic vision for what he thinks the game is. While financial constraints are a real thing, for him, meeting his artistic vision is important, too.

“Developers always make choices based on what the game’s vision is, and never based on economics or stuff like that,” he said. “I’m not saying I don’t care about money. Of course we need money to make a game. But I’m just saying, for me it’s important to follow what you believe in.”

In the end, I have to admire his tenacity and his drive to stay true to his own vision- and given the ability for players to play the game co-op even if they or their friends don’t own a copy, I hope it can overcome the natural resistance it might have otherwise met in the market.