Well. this is disheartening news. Whore of the Orient, the sequel to Team Bondi’s critically acclaimed L.A. Noire, is effectively cancelled. Team Bondi had a tough time during and after the development of L.A. Noire.

Controversy erupted over allegations of poor working conditions during crunch time for L.A. Noire, with some ex-staff members alleging that they had to work 12 hour days. After L.A. Noire can out an Australian film company, Kennedy Miller Mitchell–KMM–bought out Team Bondi, and work began on Whore of the Orient in KMM’s name. Whore of the Orient was to have been set in 1936 Shanghai, a hotbed of decadence and crime. It would have use of the same facial capture tech found in L.A. Noire. 

While Whore of the Orient is technically not cancelled, Guy Blomberg, the organiser for PAX Australia talked to ex-Producer Derek Proud, who said that though he and other execs had fought for the game, it never materialised.

We have our first look at the leaked gameplay footage of Whore of the Orient, developed by the team behind 2011’s L.A. Noire, Team Bondi.

We are not sure how far the game is in production, but the game does look like it needs a lot of polish. The video shows choppy animations, uneven frame rates and is not looking solid gameplay wise. But again, this might be a concept video or just something that is showing a work in progress.

The development of Whore of the Orient has not really been a smooth ride ever since Warner Bros. did not showed interest in the game. Back in April of this year, there were rumors that Team Bondi has been shut down as they were unavailable to find a publisher for the Whore of the Orient.

Whore of the Orient is confirmed to be releasing on the PS4, Xbox One and PC. The story of the game is written by Brendan McNamara.

Source: VideoGamer