author: Michael Kulakowski
Wasteland Devs Work on New Steampunk RPG
There are many indications that the mysterious new RPG project from inXile Entertainment may be a steampunk fantasy game. Evidence also seems to confirm that the creators of Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, are the key staff of the project.
inXile Entertainment, currently owned by Microsoft, finished working on Wasteland 3 some time ago. As we know, the team is currently preparing to development another ambitious RPG. Some time ago we even found out that it will be powered by Unreal Engine 5.
One of the users of ResetEra potentially came across the inspiration that the devs will draw from in the development of the world of their new game. He discovered that key developers of inXile Entertainment are curators of several extensive and constantly updated collections of steampunk illustrations and photos on Pintrest. They depict outfits, characters or places, as well as various gadgets and weapons created based on this aesthetic.
The mentioned developers are Jason Anderson and Chad Moore. Both are fathers and essential devs of the legendary steampunk RPG Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, released in 2001 by Troika Games, now defunct. Twenty years ago Anderson was the president of the Troika and worked on the dialogues and script of Arcanum. Moore, on the other hand, was involved in the graphic design of the game world.
Their undying love for steampunk wouldn't have been anything special if it weren't for the fact that they are closely related to inXile's new project. Anderson is currently its director, and Moore took on the influential role of studio's main designer. So it's no wonder that as part of the preparations for the game's development, the team intensely collects graphic source material, ultimately intended as inspiration for the development team.
For the time being, we are left only with speculation. The game is at least a few years away from release and during this time a lot can still change. Undoubtedly, the time has come for another truly steampunk RPG. Despite the popularity of these aesthetics, fans of video games have not yet received many really good RPG titles using its full potential.