Ken Levine, the visionary creative director and lead writer at Irrational Games, has crafted some of the most interesting stories in video games. Two Left Sticks’ Cody Mello-Klein sat down with Levine at his studio on Route 128 in Massachusetts to talk with him about the recent remaster of the Bioshock games, design philosophies, and how his upcoming project could change the future of narrative in games.
Earthblade is a 2D fantasy platformer in a seamless pixel art world and is the next release from the Celeste team, well it’s still is but likely will not be released in 2024 as Extremely OK Games’ head Maddy Thorson explains in an official blog post. Earthblade was first announced in April 2021 and then had its first trailer at The Game Awards in 2022. You are Névoa, an enigmatic child of Fate returning at long last to Earth, in this fantasy platformer. Earthblade’s lush pixel art world offers seamless exploration, challenging combat, and countless mysteries to pick apart. Celeste was an amazing game, so we know this will be too, we just will need to wait at least another year.
Less than a day after the news that Take-Two Interactive would acquire Borderlands developer Gearbox Entertainment from the embattled Embracer Group, layoffs have already begun. In the hours since former Gearbox employees were made redundant, they've taken to Twitter, and while the total number of staff impacted remains hard to determine, it sounds significant.
I am glad to see Gearbox under Take Two. But lay offs I am not surprised they aren't the only company cutting staff and they won't be the last. And I have a feeling the Borderlands movie honestly will tank when it comes out. The cast is just wow a complete mess Lilith is too old Roland is to small and scrawny. They are missing Brick and Mordecai and I don't think Tiny Tina will be as bat shit nuts as she is in the games.
Pfft, literally said yesterday how it must be nerve wracking for the devs and then this shite. People aren't looking to get fired, and these companies don't care in the slightest.
Inflation post 1/20/2020 is really causing pain to everyone. The cherry on top was companies waiting post 11/8/2022 to start doing layoffs. Hmm, I wonder why they waited past that date... Staring with Google in January 2023 and everyone following suit there after.
Companies that over-hire should be fined heavily and the CEO loses his/her bonus during layoffs, and that money can go to the workers that they laid off.
I hope Pitchford got let go for the sake of employee safty. The man is a walking grease fire waiting to happen.
An interview with the COO of Storm In A Teacup about the indie company's forthcoming single-player stealth action adventure game that's due for release later this year on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
As always Ken provides some great insight into his creative process and the industry in general. Great interview.
Got Bioshock not long ago on steam, need to play it still
That interview was incredible, I enjoyed the questions just as much as the answers! I can't wait to see his current projects come to fruition.
Where's the Bioshock Vita you promised us huh Ken?
I would play any game that was even partially inspired by Rod Serling