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In 2005, a certain Jade Empire was released, a role-playing game from BioWare allowing players to explore Imperial China. A few years later, the studio now known for working on cult licenses like Dragon Age or Mass Effect aimed to develop the game Revolver, a spiritual sequel to Jade Empire. Unfortunately, this title, which never saw the light of day, was canceled in 2008. Today, almost 25 years after its cancellation, the concept art of the project has decided to surface.
Indeed, the artist Matt Rhodes who worked on the cult licenses of BioWare shared on his account Instagram the different concept art of the spiritual successor of Jade Empire, a project that has never been officially announced. The title was to take place in the near future and offer players an RPG dimension as well as real freedom of action.
Starting its life as a sequel to Jade Empire, Revolver has evolved and changed course several times throughout its development. It was recently revealed in more detail in the book “Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development”. To celebrate, I sifted through the archives and dusted 15 years of dust off some of my favorite pieces from this project. Matt Rhodes on his Instagram account
The title, normally slated for release on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, began development in 2005 and, like the studio’s latest productions, was intended to offer players open environments that can be explored at will. Unfortunately, the title was canceled a few years later, in 2008, so that the various teams of the studio could concentrate their efforts on Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2, or new episodes for licenses already anchored in the hearts of players.