The developer of the Sherlock Holmes series, Frogwares, has revealed the existence of her next game.
It is currently unnamed but the studio from Ukraine, which recently received a grant from Epic Games to fund the transfer of developers there due to Russia’s invasion of the country, refers to it as Project Palianytsia. Alongside this work title, Frogwares has released four works of concept art to define the game, which it calls “a mixture of daring horror along with a mystery from the Victorian era”. He says the game is for fans of the sinking city and its Sherlock Holmes series.
“We are exposing the game now in this way to simply show the people we are pushing them and also as a clear middle finger to those who thought they could just roll into our country hoping to disrupt and ruin our lives,” Frogwares communications director Sergei Organsian wrote in a press release. “Although still challenging, before, all we released during the war were existing projects that had to be final. Now we produce something almost entirely from scratch that is much more difficult in these circumstances so we had to think smart about what was realistic for us. The idea was bright for that very reason. Because it’s something our current staff and installation can provide compared to performing pre-production on another open world title, and that’s what we did before the war.
“The name Palianytsia is symbolic of Ukraine because it is considered part of our national cuisine. But it is also the equivalent of phonetic dark souls for Russians who cannot pronounce it correctly when trying to ignore it as Ukrainian. So now it is often used in the field as a test to quickly identify possible non-people Known. ”
Alongside a press release, Frogwares has issued a full statement regarding the announcement of the game, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and why the studio should move from its open world game to this new game. It’s posted below, in full:
“The war continues. And so do we. A new game is in the works.
We now come to the fourth month of the Russian invasion. The so-called “special operation” was supposed to last only a few days. Funny how life does not always work out according to plan. We have no doubt that Ukraine will remain an independent nation – no matter what the Russian forces throw at us. But because of the war, we have to adapt. And the work must continue. With that, we have a message.
We can now officially reveal that we are working on a new game, codenamed ‘Palianytsia’. It’s a horror and mystery experience that fans of the sinking city and Sherlock Holmes should love. We will post a proper post soon, but for now, we have some early concept pieces to share with you.
To be honest, ‘Palianytsia’ is not the project we originally planned to do next, but with the war that has taken place, we have had to re-evaluate everything. It’s a little more effective than our last titles in the open world, but it’s a game we’re confident we can deliver in these extreme circumstances.
As a freelance studio, we must always balance our resources and workflow to be able to deliver our games. But the war placed prominent obstacles on us and our regular process. It is more difficult to maintain constant communication and iteration between teams, so we need a project where the team will have more autonomy. The roles and responsibilities had to be overturned to fill the gaps left by those enlisted to fight or provide humanitarian assistance. And the threat that tomorrow something could happen somewhere or to someone who will force us to drastically re-adapt means we need to be more flexible. With that in mind, we had a decision to make.
Do we continue the project on a large scale and at risk of disruption, we have less room for R&D and innovation, less access to your skilled staff, and we have earlier production and smaller development of specific tools? Or maybe we can be smarter about it, and create a project with an easier turn And a denser scope – but still ambitious, laden with quality, and with a great story and mystery behind it.In this way, we can not only create a new game, but do so while supporting the warriors.
We will soon reveal more about our next title. And if you are interested, we would like to give you a more detailed look at our lives and work during a war. Maybe it might bring you and us a little closer. We are also looking at other ways to bring the game to you directly – more information on that soon.
Thank you for all your support during this time. Stay safe wherever you are. “
For more information, read Game Informer’s A consecutive list of game studios that have shown support for Ukraine.