John Garvin has worked on everything from Days Gone and Syphon Filter to Resistance and Uncharted during his time at PlayStation developer Bend Studio, but his latest game aims to blow all of those away.
Garvin’s new studio, named Liithos, is a joint venture with fellow PlayStation vet Michael Mumbauer and the Hedera network’s Alex Russman. The three have joined forces to create a brand new game set in a post-apocalyptic Pacific Northwest called Ashfall.
Ashfall’s story centers on the Seattle area after wildfires, flooding, and eruptions from the volcanic Ring of Fire (including an erupted Mt. Rainier, shown above) have all combined to create a climate apocalypse.
A strange energy called the Trace has risen up as a result of these natural disasters, offering a new source of power that destroys cities and mucks up weather patterns.
“Our goal is to create a truly next-gen, open world experience,” Garvin told VentureBeat. “As always, our focus is on creating beloved characters, captivating stories and evolutionary gameplay and a world worth exploring, not just in games, but other media as well.”
So what is that other media? For one, Ashfall will be a comic book, as well. Garvin, along with illustrator Brett Booth (Teen Titans, StormWatch, Justice League of America), are creating the Ashfall digital comic book with a projected release date of September of 2023. The comic will be $100, which includes a “Founder’s Token” NFT for that price.
Here’s a page from #Ashfall comic issue #1… I’ve been writing games and comics for 40 years and love both! Because comics are so visual, focusing on character, action, and setting, I can use these as a sort of high level design doc! More soon! @MichaelMumbauer @LiithosEnt pic.twitter.com/wCG7TPMulF
— John Garvin (@John_Garvin) June 27, 2022
“This is a great example of how we’re approaching this IP differently than any game I’ve worked on,” Garvin said on Twitter. “We’re bringing everyone along AS we create the world, story and characters … Michael is doing an amazing job of finding AAA talent from all over the world!”
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