Frostpunk Developer 11-Bit Studios Teases Future Projects
Game Rant recently sat down with Paweł Miechowski of 11-Bit Studios, the developer and now publisher behind titles like This War of Mine, Frostpunk, and Moonlighter, among many others. We covered strategies for making challenging games with tough moral choices, the studio's approach to piracy, and even some of the projects that it will be releasing in the foreseeable future. The 11-Bit development team as well as the publishing division are both working on multiple projects, there are some very interesting tidbits about what might be coming from the team next.
First and foremost, 11-Bit has officially announced that an upcoming expansion to Frostpunk, called On the Edge, will be releasing some time this year. That alone is exciting news, but there is far more to look forward to as well. One of the strengths of 11-Bit is that it also acts as a publisher for several other studios, publishing games such as Digital Sun's Moonlighter and Children of Morta from Dead Mage. Most of the games that 11-Bit helps publish continue a tradition of subverting genres and portraying powerful messages, so we wanted to know what it's like to help publish games as a company with development experience.
Since we were self-publishing... with each title we progressed [and] it was then a natural idea to create an environment of multiple developers and become a publisher. We know what a developer needs and what a publisher should deliver. We need to fall in love with the developer's vision.... It's like that with Digital Sun, the guys behind Moonlighter. We're actually working with them on another project, but the details are a secret.
That's very exciting to hear, since Moonlighter was a unique game with a great premise. It presents a story about a shopkeep who dreams of becoming an adventurer and warrior, and allows the player to go towards those goals through a variety of engaging mechanics, be it running a store or raiding dungeons. With gorgeous art and original gameplay, it attracted many fans who will doubtless be thrilled to play whatever Digital Sun produces next. While all that's known now is that there is indeed something new in the works, we can only guess at how it will play and what formula it will take on.
During the rest of the interview, Paweł went on to discuss a wide range of topics, including the potential for meaningful, choice-driven games to reach the scale of triple-A blockbuster titles. To close out though, the final question was what the most exciting moment was in Paweł's ten years at 11-Bit, and what he is most looking forward to. The interview happened to fall on the exact date of Paweł's tenth anniversary at the studio, and he expressed that the release of This War of Mine was perhaps the most incredible moment he got to witness. However, on the topic of the future, he had this to say:
... we have three projects in the publishing division, and three in the internal division. I'm definitely looking forward to one, in the publishing, that is close to my heart. It's not as depressing as This War of Mine, it's really joyful, but it has some interesting problems to tackle. A lot of stuff is confidential, but we do have the coming expansion to Frostpunk which we just announced today- it's called On the Edge.
Six new projects from 11-Bit in the near future is very big news, and there is plenty of speculation to be had about what they will be. Is this "joyful" title that Paweł is so intent on the next project from Digital Sun? What genres will the studio subvert next? All that's for certain is that the next titles out of both the development team and the publishing division will be unique, interesting games with satisfying stories to be told. The scale and quality of 11-Bit's projects has only improved over time, so let's hope the success of recent games like Frostpunk will help fund even bigger and better experiences. The On the Edge expansion to Frostpunk is expected to launch this summer, so eager fans should look forward to it and expect even more to come.
Frostpunk is out now for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. On the Edge is set to release this summer.
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