In 2016, former World of Warcraft lead designer Rob Pardo introduced a brand new enterprise referred to as Bonfire Studios, made up of former Blizzard colleagues and ex-Nexon CEO Min Kim. Nine years down the highway, he is lastly revealed the studio’s first undertaking: A team-based PvP recreation referred to as Arkheron.
Pardo advised VentureBeat that Arkheron has been in correct improvement since 2018, however stated the method has been slowed by “curveballs” just like the Covid-19 pandemic. Playtesting with a small neighborhood started in 2024, and whereas the sport is now apparently far sufficient alongside that Bonfire is prepared to share the very fact of its existence, it hasn’t revealed any specifics besides that it is a team-based aggressive dwell service recreation set in a darkish fantasy universe. Pardo stated that is partly as a result of “we now have not discovered the best strategy to describe it in a manner that actually paints the best image for the sport.”
“It’s on this great place the place it has numerous acquainted ideas from different genres, however the core of the sport is admittedly distinctive and the fight is admittedly distinctive,” Pardo stated. “It’s created numerous challenges for us to truly clarify it nicely to folks. Because folks at all times get the flawed impression. They get an image of the flawed recreation.”
“It’s very fast-paced and is not turn-based or something like that. It has its personal distinctive fight model. It’s not likely a shooter. It’s not point-and-click like Diablo. We hopefully have made it playable on the controller from the start. So it is truly very conducive to controller play.”
It’s not a lot to go on, truthful sufficient, however I do assume it is fascinating that after almost a decade of digital silence, it seems that Pardo and firm have truly been doing one thing all alongside—particularly given the variety of different, newer veteran-led videogame startups that have not made it that far, together with Casey Hudson’s Humanoid Origin, Jerry Hook’s Jar of Sparks, and Mac Walters’ Worlds Untold. Pardo’s lengthy checklist of credit at Blizzard—together with WoW, he additionally labored on Warcraft 2 and three, StarCraft and StarCraft 2, Diablo 3, and Hearthstone—additionally makes Arkheron a undertaking value watching.
If you are to be taught extra about what Arkheron is definitely about, Bonfire can also be now gearing as much as increase its pool of playtesters. You can join a shot to get in at bonfirestudios.com.
