Darkish Passenger, a studio shaped by veterans of The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, has raised $3 million in a seed spherical.
The Video games Fund led the spherical, with assist from Blite Fund. The funding fuels the event of an unannounced, cutting-edge, first-person multiplayer PvPvE stealth-action sport, set in a novel universe impressed by feudal Japan and martial arts cinema.
Cofounded by Jakub Ben and Paweł Kuleta of the famend CGI studio RealTime Warriors, Darkish Passenger additionally reunites CD Projekt Purple veterans, together with Marcin Michalski. With their expertise on iconic titles like The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, the group goals to create an unique IP in contrast to something avid gamers have seen earlier than.
The core group blends the artwork experience of RealTime Warriors with prime expertise from acclaimed studios like CDPR, Folks Can Fly, Reikon, Flying Wild Hog , and Covenant.dev. With the backing, Warsaw, Poland-based Darkish Passenger plans to develop its group to greater than 30. The corporate goals to succeed in greater than 60 by launch.
Poland has solidified its place as Europe’s prime online game developer and exporter, with the trade producing almost €1 billion yearly and exporting over 96% of its manufacturing globally (in line with The Polish Company for Enterprise Improvement). This success stems from a pool of passionate and impressive creators. Darkish Passenger is tapping into this wealthy expertise base with aspirations to turn into a number one drive in Europe’s gaming panorama.
The group is ready to ship the last word ninja expertise, that includes thrilling rooftop chases throughout beautiful vertical landscapes and intense, fast-paced fight. Gamers will wield bladed and ranged weapons, use devices, and navigate environmental hazards, all from an immersive first-person perspective.
Darkish Passenger guarantees to redefine melee fight within the first-person perspective style, ditching slow-paced gameplay for ultra-dynamic, responsive fight impressed by combating video games, martial arts movies, and anime classics. The group is creating a complicated locomotion system that enables for seamless motion, together with quick climbing, wall operating, base leaping, operating on water, and even creating new pathways with spears and arrows.
To offer the last word ninja expertise, Darkish Passenger will enable gamers to unlock and extensively customise their characters, gear, and abilities and even create their private dojo. The sport’s arsenal will function a variety of absolutely customizable weapons and firearms, together with each unique and iconic historic variants. Some weapons will even improve mobility, enabling gamers to climb increased, leap over obstacles, or assist wall operating making fight and locomotion really interconnected.
Darkish Passenger is concentrated on making a wealthy IP with a compelling, multi-branch story stuffed with twists, extraordinary characters, and tense conflicts inside a darkish, evolving world. As the sport progresses, new secrets and techniques will unfold, making certain its longevity and doubtlessly increasing the narrative into different media. The founders imagine trendy on-line experiences are about extra than simply competitors; they goal to create immersive, socially-driven gameplay centered on interpersonal dynamics. Their ardour for multiplayer motion video games fuels this imaginative and prescient, providing distinctive alternatives for builders passionate concerning the style.
“Though we’re greatest identified for triple-A, story-driven RPGs, our true ardour has all the time been multiplayer,” stated Jakub Ben, CEO of Darkish Passenger, in an announcement. “This obsession began over 20 years in the past, enjoying combating video games, LAN events, and tournaments in Quake 3 Enviornment and Unreal Event. The extreme feelings of enjoying collectively and towards one another cast unforgettable tales. We’ve all the time dreamed of making a multiplayer sport that orchestrates these moments.”
Ben added, “Whereas the multiplayer panorama is extra thrilling than ever, we nonetheless see huge untapped potential. It takes creativeness, belief, and imaginative and prescient to totally perceive our course, and these are the qualities we present in The Video games Fund. This funding is a game-changer for us—it’s helped increase our group and set the foundations for our challenge, permitting us to give attention to manufacturing.”
The Darkish Passenger group is exploring essentially the most participating points of the game-as-a-service (GaaS) mannequin, with a give attention to avoiding predatory practices and unfair mechanics. As a substitute, they goal to prioritize dwell operations, neighborhood engagement, a gentle stream of significant content material, and occasions that form the sport world. They put communication with gamers on the forefront with the intention of listening and observing their actions so as to frequently enhance the expertise.
“We’re dedicated to investing within the CEE gaming trade, and Poland has all the time been robust in PC and console single-player sport improvement. Nevertheless, this group selected to observe their ardour for co-op multiplayer video games, which is a imaginative and prescient we strongly imagine in,” stated Ilia Eremeev, managing associate of The Video games Fund, in an announcement. “There’s a scarcity of video games that dare to take dangers and ship daring, unapologetic experiences, leaving gamers craving that “Hell yeah” issue.”
He added, “After seeing their early demo, we immediately acknowledged that Darkish Passenger is ready to ship precisely that. The standard of the expertise, given the group’s dimension and improvement time, was astonishing. We instantly aligned with their imaginative and prescient: an thrilling, undiluted energy fantasy. We’re thrilled to associate with these nice founders on this journey.”
