Double Fine, the creative minds behind games such as Pyschonauts and the upcoming Broken Age, has provided details on its latest project, Hack N’ Slash, a puzzle-based action adventure game due for release in 2014. The company’s next title, which has been incubating in production since the studio’s annual in-house game jam — aptly branded Amnesia Fortnight — and has been confirmed to appear on Linux, Mac and Windows PC.
Here’s a message from the studio regarding Hack N’ Slash from the website, which is embedded within the downloadable JPEG image.
“You may have figured out that this JPEG is more than just an image. It is not an ARG. It is not a transmedia narrative. It’s just a puzzle we’ve built for you that will give you some more Hack ‘n’ Slash tidbits as you peel back its layers. If you’re into that kind of thing, we hope you enjoy it!”
Though the aesthetic of Double Fine’s latest outing is akin to Zelda games from the SNES era, the studio assured fans that the game will subvert these old school sensibilities. For Hack N’ Slash, players assume the role of a young elf who, after becoming versed in binary computer code, cheats her way through an in-game adventure by manipulating the AI.
As one would expect, hacking serves as the crux of Double Fine’s new project, and the intriguing premise has been supported by the gaming public en masse. Hack N’ Slash became the most voted title in the studio’s pre-development roster, which has led to early prototypes of the game being sold via a Humble Bundle.
In other news, the studio recently confirmed that Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood would lend his vocal chords to their upcoming, Kickstarter-funded title Broken Age.
Tim Schafer and co. are well versed in subverting expectations, but tell us: does the puzzle-based Hack N’ Slash pique your interest? Give us your initial impressions in the comments below.
