In terms of popularity and profit, video games have come a long way over the past thirty years, with Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Grand Theft Auto, to name a few, now cultural phenomena. legitimate alongside any movie or TV show. . . you might want to mention. But just as mega-hits, live services, and triple-A games propelled our industry to new heights, they may also have eclipsed a certain kind of gaming experience. It seems like everything these days has to be massively multiplayer, open-world, and packed with a two-year DLC roadmap. Space game Fort Solis, starring Roger Clark (better known as Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2) and Troy Baker, aka Joel from The Last of Us, seeks to provide an alternative.
Story-driven, with a strong author voice, niche appeal, and relatively short runtime, it’s the definition of a double-A game. Portraying engineer Jack Leary (voiced by Clark) , Fort Solis takes place in a single night, as you try to uncover a mysterious tragedy that happened at the space base of the same name.
James Tinsdale, director of game at Fort Solis and founder of developer Fallen Leaf, spoke to our sister site The Loadout at this year’s Game Developers Conference. The studio’s goal, and the goal of Fort Solis, is to keep the double-A game alive.
“We’re not looking to do The Witcher, or go CD Projekt RED or anything like that,” Tinsdale says. “If you see the Fallen Leaf logo appear on a trailer, you know it’s going to be a great cinematic storytelling and well-presented experience. We’re trying to get in that little corner and say ‘this is who we are.’ We’re going to sit here and make high-quality, double-A games for as long as we can and for as long as people want.”
Scheduled for release in Q3 2023, Fort Solis follows in the footsteps of blockbusters like The Callisto Protocol and Dead Space Remake, but aims to tell a more contained and focused story, in a reduced playtime. If you’re short on time and hungry for something newer, or maybe the equivalent of a good TV miniseries, this might be for you.
“Really, we’re looking at around four to six hours,” Tinsdale says. “But our price will reflect that – we’re not going to go to $70. Ultimately, we’ll set a fair price to set expectations.” You can wishlist Fort Solis on Steam right now.
Otherwise, take a look at some of the other best games slated for release in 2023. You might also want to try some great indie games, or maybe the best horror games on PC.