News and Industry Happenings

New IP: The Darwin Project Announed At E3

During today’s Microsoft E3 media briefing, Scavengers Studio revealed that their recently announced battle royale title The Darwin Project is coming to Xbox One. The team also shared new information about the Show Director mode, which allows a player to oversee the match and use special commands to create thrilling moment-to-moment action through uniquely asymmetrical gameplay.

As the show director in The Darwin Project, a player can survey the entire arena aboard an invincible drone and examine the strategies all seven contestants are using to hunt each other down. The director dashboard contains a suite of tools, unlocked through a progression system, with the potential to influence the outcome of the match. The show director can choose to give the underdog an unforeseen edge or turn the tables on a particularly bloodthirsty contestant by restricting zones, calling in airstrikes, or even triggering a manhunt―which reveals a player’s position for a few seconds.

The Show Director mode is one of many features Scavengers Studio is implementing to reinvent the battle royale sub-genre. Another, to be detailed at a later time, will allow for livestream spectators to play a role in the game.

Unveiled at PAX East 2017, The Darwin Project takes place in a post-apocalyptic landscape in the Northern Canadian Rockies. As civilization prepares for an impending ice age, a twisted new project emerges, half science experiment and half live-entertainment. It’s called The Darwin Project and it challenges participants to survive the cold and fight to the death in a treacherous, snow-covered arena.

The Darwin Project offers a competitive multiplayer third-person experience with an emphasis on survival. Players must withstand extreme environmental conditions, track opponents, craft tools, set traps, and even negotiate temporary alliances to be the last one standing at sunrise.

The Darwin Project is playable on the E3 show floor at the Microsoft booth. The Darwin Project is currently in closed pre-alpha and slated for launch on Xbox One and PC in spring 2018.

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John Breeden II

As a journalist John has covered everything from rural town meetings to the U.S. Congress and even done time as a crime reporter and photographer.|His first venture into writing about the game industry came in the form of a computer column called "On the Chip Side," which grew to have over 1 million circulation and was published in newspapers in several states. From there he did several "ask the computer guy" columns in magazines such as Up Front! in New Mexico and Who Cares? in Washington D.C. When the Internet started to become popular, he began writing guided Web tours for the newly launched Washington Post online section as well as reviews for the weekend section of the paper, something he still does from time to time. His experience in trade publications came as a writer and reviewer for Government Computer News. As the editor of GiN, he demands strict editorial standards from all the writers and reviewers. Breeden feels the industry needs a weekly, reliable trade publication covering the games industry and works tirelessly to accomplish that goal.