Tweet
The last we heard from former-Epic Games director Cliff Blezinski, he was trying to coo sad-sack Fez creator Phil Fish back into the industry. Now, the chainsaw-wielding designer has turned his attentions towards mounting a comeback of his very own.
Addressing his 200,000-plus Twitter followers on Thursday, the one-time Gears of War boss shared an all-new concept art image, along with a caption reading – ‘Here’s a sneak peek at something I’m working on that has been cropped.’
Designed by The Last of Us-alumni Shaddy Safadi, the image (available up top) displays a desert mountain setting – not unlike Utah’s famous ‘Dead Horse Point’ – being intersected by a large river formation. A number of vaguely Sci-Fi looking soldiers/guards are also apparent in the image, as well as small black gunboat in the foreground. One figure in particular appears to be wielding a futuristic assault rifle/unwieldy baton, whilst his comrades in the middle-distance patrol what could be a hydro-powered outpost.
Most interesting of all, is the teaser’s seemingly senseless background cropping, a ‘mistake’ as admitted to by Blezinski in his accompanying blurb. The crude nature of the crop does seem to suggest that the image has undergone a largely pointless ‘instant-alpha’-style makeover, with the missing elements likely completed prior to the edit.
It’s unclear why Cliffy would choose to debut his next project in such shoddy fashion, unless of course, the image were hinting at more than a potential setting. Could it be that these missing elements are filled-in by the player’s hand, echoing the mechanics of Warren Spector’s Epic Mickey franchise? Speaking in the wake of his October-time split with Epic Games, the designer told G4 of his ambition to “work on something new and fresh and redefine my legacy.” Could paying homage to Spector’s work provide that kind of legacy-setting turnaround?
Following media-led requests for further info Blezinski replied simply –
“[I] Appreciate the media queries about the image but I’m releasing information on my own timing and agenda this time, friends. Stay tuned.”