The long dormant Fear Effect franchise is making a return, and with a new developer at the wheel.
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Fear Effect 1 and 2 were third-person thriller affairs on the PS1 that ended up developing a cult-like following. The third entry, titled Inferno, was abruptly cancelled, but not before a substantial amount of work was done. French developer Sushee is taking the reigns via Square Enix’s Collective initiative and is looking to continue the games legacy via a new Kickstarter campaign.
While they are definitely creating their own take on the franchise, they aren’t abandoning the framework already established completely. The game is a sequel to the unreleased Inferno, which they were allowed to see upon taking this project on. All four series regulars are back for Sedna, including Hana, Rain Qin, Royce Glas, and Jacob “Deke” DeCourt, and while it puts Hana and Rain front and center again, the developer is striving to leave the oversexualized aspects of their relationship in the past. In an interview with Eurogamer, Sushee founder Benjamin Anseaume spoke about their approach to the two characters.
“We want to do things smart,” Anseaume said. “We don’t want to show sexuality for nothing. We want to work on the relationship between the characters. Maybe back in the 90s it was a selling element. We want to make it part of the story and not just a selling element. John is important for that. He’s the writer of the best part of Fear Effect, the first episode where Hana was strong, and not as sexualised as she was in the second game. Especially for the second game, Eidos’ marketing used sexual pictures that were not in the game. You will have Hana and Rain as strong characters but not sexualised as they were in the second game.”
The game is deriving inspiration from Harebrained Schemes excellent Shadowrun Returns franchise, so gameplay will be of the more strategical variety, as opposed to its gunplay centered tank controlled brethren. The game is launching on Kickstarter soon, and will be initially coming out for PC, but a console release is part of the stretch goals. You can view a teaser of the game above, which captures the cel-shaded look of the originals perfectly.
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