Yesterday came the disappointing news that Shadow Realms, the asymmetric 4v1 multiplayer shooter in the vein of Turtle Rock and 2K’s Evolve that Bioware had been working on, had been canceled. We don’t quite know a whole lot about the project, or about what exactly caused its cancelation- but according to industry insider Shinobi, who has usually been accurate with his news and leaks, and who is especially an ardent follower of Bioware, the game was being retooled into a single player RPG before it got canceled.

Guys, in case the implication of that somehow missed you: this sucks. Bioware is incredible at making single player games. Its best games of all time have all been games that chiefly focused on a single player element (Baldur’s Gate 2, Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Origins), while any time it has tried to chase multiplayer, it has largely failed (Mass Effect 3, Star Wars: The Old Republic).

It would have had a chance of being something legitimately awesome, and another possible universe for Bioware to craft epic games from. And now it’s dead.

I am sad now.

Bioware’s experimental Shadow Realms, their take on the 4v1 asymmetric multiplayer shooter genre that is just now being popularized by Turtle Rock and 2K’s Evolve, has apparently been canceled. EA has confirmed the cancelation, also confirming that Bioware Austin, that was working on the game, will be moving to focus on Star Wars: The Old Republic full time now. Meanwhile, players who were signed up for the game’s alpha, will be getting some form of ‘thank you’ compensation from EA.

“We’ve made the decision to not move forward with development of Shadow Realms. We fully recognize that this news is disappointing to some of our fans, so I want to explain more behind this decision,” EA began.

“While the team did amazing work on the game concept and we got lots of great feedback from our fans at events and through other game testing, right now there are other projects for the team to work on within the BioWare studios for the coming year and beyond. We’ve got an incredibly talented team here at the Austin studio, and they are excited and already deep on new projects within the BioWare family, ones that will make some great BioWare games even better.”

It is disappointing, especially since Shadow Realms had more potential than The Old Republic. Oh well.

Stay tuned for more coverage.

Note: List is in random order.

Firewatch

Developer: Campo Santo
Publisher: Campo Santo, Panic Inc.

Firewatch puts players in the role of a man named Henry, a retiree that has taken a new lonesome position. His new gig has him stationed in the Wyoming wilderness where he simply watches out for forest fires. The only means of communication with the outside world comes in the form of a radio to his companion and supervisor Delilah. Since Firewatch was Camp Santo’s first video game, little was known or expected until Pax 2014. Taking place in the 1980s, the story of Firewatch is one of exploration and mystery as it seems not just the wild animals are lurking in the lush forest.

During Pax 2014, the development team expressed that Firewatch is open-world but not as some would expect. Instead of being able to locate new places and take on different quests, the story will drive players into a more linear path. Nonetheless, Firewatch does carry over elements from Telltale Games, thanks to ex-Telltale Games creative director and designer Jake Rodkin. Expect a number of different responses to choose from when talking with Delilah. Unfortunately, it’s unknown if dialog choices will play a big part endgame.

Remember Bioware Austin’s Shadow Realms, its online action role playing game that was revealed at Gamescom 2014 after a hefty stream of teasers? The PC-only title may have undergone a significant retooling since the deal of its closed alpha test that was to happen in October 2014.

According to Kotaku, while two sources claimed the game had been cancelled, a third “reliable” source revealed that Shadow Realms had actually been overhauled to integrate EA’s Origin services. Though the game was originally thought to be offered as a standalone client, Origin integration means that the developer will have access to more resources and financing.

That’s not all – Shadow Realms will also have a campaign mode along with a possible release on PS4 and Xbox One. Whatever the case may be, sources state that we won’t see the RPG until at least 2017.

Take this all with a grain of salt but it would explain the absence of any Shadow Realms-related news and happenings in the past few months. What are your thoughts on the same? Let us know in the comments.

Set to release at an unspecified time in 2015, Shadow Realms is set to be published by Bioware owners, Electronic Arts (Battlefield Series, Dragon Age Series & Mass Effect Series) and it will be running on the powerful Frostbite 3 Engine which is developed by the EA subsidiary, DICE (Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment).

The game is currently only slated for release on Microsoft Windows based PC’s with no mention of an Xbox One or PlayStation 4 port being in the works unless fans call for it (see paragraph 2 of Development for pre-release reception information). The game will be available at launch both at retail and via digital download.

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

Development

It’s not yet known for sure when the development of Shadow Realms began, but Bioware Austin announced the game for the first time at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con event. The announcement of the game was accompanied by a live action trailer called “you’ve been chosen”. The trailer seemed to pitch the game as other story driven RPG similar to the likes of Mass Effect, both of which are the most commonly thought of games when someone mentions Bioware.

Much to the ire of those looking forward to the game, it was announced as being an online story driven 4v1 action adventure role playing game that is being released in an episodic manner, frustrations were compounded recently when a gameplay video from Gamescom 2014 showed the game to be significantly less impressive as it sounded. Whilst industry critics praised the games customisation options and freedom of combat choice, however non industry gamers have said that the game is unimpressive in regards to gameplay, graphical fidelity and they have criticised the choice to use an episodic release model.

The game was set to have a Closed Alpha sometime this year, but that has since been delayed. This comes after the game was debuted at Gamescom in 2014. Whilst the games senior producer admits that this delay is rooted in players wanting changes being made to the game, he fails to address the matter directly and instead says “One of the most important things to us on Shadow Realms is listening to – and making changes based on – that player feedback. Having fans play the game at Gamescom and PAX Prime gave us incredible insight.” Gamers have praised the developer for taking player feedback to actively influence the games play style.

James Ohlen, a Canadian video game designer and Senior Creative Director for Bioware has said, “Shadow Realms has its genesis in old school Dungeons & Dragons. When I first started designing BioWare RPGs back in the 90s, what drove me creatively was the desire to give players the experience I had while playing pen and paper games as a youth”.

Story

Plot specifics are vague, with a vast amount of lore being available but no real mention of the games story. Despite being a “story driven” game, the player is free to make choices that change and influence the story. This, coupled with the fact that the game is predominantly an online experience, leads to some confusion as to what exactly is going on with the games plot, or even if there is one in an overarching sense of the word.

Gameplay

Shadow Realms is an online story driven 4v1 action adventure role playing game that “has its genesis in old school Dungeons & Dragons”. To that end, players are free to choose one of six character classes from the classic class archetypes, including Warrior, Assassin, Wizard, Cleric, Ranger and Warlock. As you would expect, each of these classes comes equipped with their own special attacks, unique skills, class specific abilities and various strengths.

The character classes will be augmented by various levels of character and combat customisation that will range from changing play styles and load outs. There is also a variety of abilities that can be used regardless of the players chosen class.

The crux of the gameplay will revolve around the player and three other players teaming up online to tackle another player who controls the enemies and traps in the level. Similar to what is being done in the newest Fable title, Fable Legends.

New gameplay “episodes” will be released “frequently”, though nobody knows just how frequent that actually is. Despite being Story Driven, the player can apparently choose their own path drawing comparisons to other Bioware rpg’s.

Characters

As mentioned above, the characters are created by the players by way of an in depth customisation suite.

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

That being said, with Ubisoft not holding a dedicated press conference this year, Microsoft was clearly the star.

"No TV shows, very little Kinect – just games, games and more games. More importantly, they were games we would have liked to buy and no shortage of variety at all."

It’s hard to believe that the company which faced so many controversies over DRM, indie gaming, eSRAM, resolutions and so on could have had not one but two great conferences in a row. It began at E3 2014, shortly after Phil Spencer took over head of the Xbox division and promised nothing but games at the biggest show of the year. No TV shows, very little Kinect – just games, games and more games. More importantly, they were games we would have liked to buy and no shortage of variety at all.

This was the scenario at Gamescom as well. While Microsoft wasn’t announcing new projects left and right, it still stood out with a few indie game announcements, Rise of the Tomb Raider’s timed exclusivity, in-depth gameplay for Quantum Break and new details regarding Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo 5: Guardians.

It was a good 1.5 hours’ worth of gaming information and relatively important reveals to keep us hyped about the console well into the New Year. Heck, we even got to see more of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’s single-player campaign and received an open beta date for Evolve.

"Sony seemingly forgot about the PS Vita and Project Morpheus, marking a royal snub to the former and a rather baffling absence of the latter."

By contrast, Sony seemed to have been determined to shine the spotlight away from its major AAA releases and on to its indie games. Yes, we’re excited about WiLD and Alienation, and even slightly intrigued about Hellblade, but it’s a shame that games like The Order: 1886, LittleBigPlanet 3 and Bloodborne received a decreased focus at Gamescom.

Not only that but Sony seemingly forgot about the PS Vita and Project Morpheus, marking a royal snub to the former and a rather baffling absence of the latter. With all the mutations that the PS Vita has been going through – from an overpriced collection of gimmicks to portable PS3 to “portable” PS4 (via Remote Play) to indie machine to cross platform medium – it’s utterly amazing that Sony chose to ignore it like this.

The handheld isn’t doing badly either as it still competes fairly well against the Nintendo 3DS in Japan. By not emphasizing games, much less acknowledging the handheld’s existence (unless you count the stupendously stupid Vita TV), Sony risks telling existing consumers that they simply don’t matter.

We’re not exactly big fans of EA’s presentation either. This time around, we thankfully received more gameplay footage of upcoming titles and a decreased presence of sports titles (though FIFA 15 and NHL 15 still took up a significant amount of time).

"The real tipping point was Battlefield: Hardline. Unlike Sledgehammer Games, Visceral didn’t choose to do a separate multiplayer reveal followed by some campaign footage."

Dragon Age: Inquisition looked great but Bioware’s Shadow Realms felt like an extremely damp squib. All that hype for a free to play multiplayer title with bland visuals? Again, we’d like to play it before judging it but the whole “four versus one” mechanic is being done a lot better somewhere else.

And as much as EA wants us to get excited about The Sims 4, it just doesn’t make for great presentations. It didn’t help that we witnessed the birth of a virtual Peter Moore, shirtless and tattooed, whose sole goal in life was to be consumed by a horse plant. Is this how we’re wasting time at conferences now? With jokes that only the company men and women will find funny?

But the real tipping point was Battlefield: Hardline. Unlike Sledgehammer Games, Visceral didn’t choose to do a separate multiplayer reveal followed by some campaign footage. No, we got an extended – and I mean extended – look at Battlefield: Hardline’s single player mode. On the one hand, it introduced some much needed mechanics to the experience. On the other hand, we weren’t impressed. Would it have been so difficult to showcase an extended look at the multiplayer, especially the new modes that were announced, since everyone will be buying the game for this anyway? You could then probably do a small smidgeon of highlights from the campaign. Regardless, EA’s conference was a vast improvement over E3.

Microsoft still “won” the contest at Gamescom and impressed us not only with their ability to market upcoming titles but by introducing new efforts, generating headlines and somehow finding a way to balance it all out – with nary a mention of Kinect, motion gaming or TV shows in sight. We’ll see how Tokyo Game Show 2014 pans out, especially since the Xbox One will be entering the Japanese market this September, but hopefully this momentum will continue into 2015.

The mysterious teasers from Bioware finally culminated in the announcement of Shadow Realms, an online free to play action RPG exclusive to the PC which sees modern fantasy heroes take on the forces of darkness. The game is exclusive to PC and will feature a continuously developing story.

Interestingly, aside from teaming up in a party of four to take on evil, you can also choose to play as a Shadowlord. This sounds very similar to Evolve’s four versus one gameplay approach and in Shadow Realms, they will play a part in advancing the story towards conquering the “Insidious One”. You’ll earn experience and upgrade your characters as per the norm.

Shadow Realms is already available for testing to those who attended EA’s Gamescom press conference and those interested in the closed alpha can sign up on the game’s new website. Thoughts on Shadow Realms? Let us know in the comments below what you think.

Bioware has released another teaser for its upcoming new project, this one titled “Impact”. Along with featuring a woman who has apparently destroyed her own home – muttering “It’s not my fault” over and over again – the teaser asks “Can you control your power?” This does seem slightly in line with the Spark teaser wherein a young man seemingly destroyed his surroundings after a burst of electricity. Regardless, check it out above.

Luckily, Bioware will be revealing this project at Gamescom on August 13th during a special fan event. For those unable to attend, the event will be streamed live on Twitch at 4 PM to 5 PM CEST/7 AM PDT/10 AM EDT.

Whether Bioware is indeed working on Shadow Realms or not – as was seemingly discovered with regards to these teasers – remains to be seen but we’re definitely beyond intrigued at this point. What are your thoughts on what this new IP could be? Let us know in the comments below.

Bioware is working on a brand new project – which may be the rumoured new IP Shadow Realms – and it’s doing it’s best to jerk us around till the final reveal. It’s already released one teaser, dubbed Nightmare, for the game and now a new video teaser called Spark has been released. Check it out above.

There’s not much to see in the teaser. A teenager sits in a Chinese restaurant and receives calls from an unknown number. He can be seen scribbling a mysterious symbol on a napkin before the restaurant is bathed in electricity. A shadowy figure can be seen looking in through the window as the teenager wonders what happened.

Confused yet? We certainly are.

Regardless, if it is indeed Shadow Realms, the next obvious question is when Bioware plans to reveal it. Could Gamescom 2014 on August 13th to 17th be a good time? We’ll find out in the coming weeks so stay tuned for more details.

Bioware posted a new teaser today for what was likely an upcoming video game. Nothing about it was revealed, save for “Nightmare teaser”, but it appears as though EA might have accidentally revealed the project’s name.

A Twitter user has inspected the code for the thumbnail on the video and if you look closely, you’ll see that EA has called it “ShadowRealms”. The publisher trademarked a game back in March called Shadow Realms but nothing really came of it, save for Bioware announcing at E3 2014 that it was working on a new game separate from the next Mass Effect. Could Shadow Realms be it?

It could be that this recent teaser will hype a reveal at Gamescom where Bioware has been known to make major announcements. If Shadow Realms is indeed a thing, it remains to be seen just how different it is from Bioware’s past efforts. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.