If you missed it you can watch it after the Read More jump, but we just wanted to point out, even for those who caught the out-of-left-field reveal, just why this one might have been the biggest and most significant reveal from the TGAs based on its best-in-class sci-fi survival horror roots, its free-from-tyranny development position and because we also just need another game like this.



So, what's all the hubbub then?

Who?

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A brand new studio from former Sledgehammer Games co-creator, Glen Schofield, whose biggest name to fame in this context isn't that he (and Sledgehammer) helped save Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, or that they went on to create two more Call of Duty entries in both Advanced Warfare and WW2. It's that alongside compadre, Michael Condrey, the pair convinced higher-ups at EA to take a punt on a new IP in Dead Space, a series that would go on to have three official games, alongside a few unique releases across mobile and less powerful platforms, while also dominating transmedia. The series is now a benchmark for sci-fi-based survival horror.

What?

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Hard one to answer this early, but what we can tell you is it is set on the titular moon Callisto which orbits Jupiter. It's a third-person survival horror single-player experience Schofield describes as "the scariest game on next-gen platforms". It looks like it's set from a prison complex that has had some sort of virus or alien carrion that morphs humans into Super Saiyan Dead Space-like Necromorphs. Interestingly, as Striking Distance is at least aligned with PUBG megacorp, PUBG Corporation, the game somehow sits within the PUBG universe, which sounds more like the SD crowd just sold that as a means to make a true successor to Dead Space.

When?

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At this stage, 2022 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X.

Why (are we so excited)?

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In case you've missed it, this is a spiritual successor to Dead Space. There's even an Easter Egg in the reveal trailer. Schofield and Condrey made what is arguably the best follow-up to Resident Evil 4 ever. We spoke exclusively to Condrey a little while ago and he's now retro-echoing new points Schofield is currently bellowing about visuals, audio and the new hardware: "There was a lot of work done by an exceptional team of engineers and tech artist that went into the core engine development. Large scale dynamic and deferred lighting was different than anything that had been done in videogames at that time, and it was essential to the experience. Similarly, we spent a lot of effort on sound and music, and [developed] the audio tech needed to capture the sense of terror and fear that were necessary to fully immerse fans in Isaac’s world".

And so this new setup for Schofield and Striking Distance bears a striking resemblance to where they were once before, but now not beholden to an EA or Activision type of publisher, we can only hope creativity thrives and we get what Schofield has promised.