Fallout 2 and New Vegas writer Chris Avellone joins Republic Games to reforge the “golden age of RPGs” with a “mature” new title

Chris Avellone, the video game designer and writer behind Fallout 2, Fallout New Vegas, KOTOR 2, and many more, has joined forces with new game studio Republic Games to reignite the “golden age of RPGs”.

Chris Avellone announces new “mature” RPG

With decades of creating dense, lore-rich RPGs under his belt, Avellone is joining Republic Games to craft a “dark, mature fantasy RPG” for the new studio.

Started last year by Detroit: Become Human and Star Wars: Eclipse lead writer Adam Williams, the studio aims to make RPGs with “rich, interesting” stories that continue Avellone’s trend of “meaningful choices, branches and endings”.

“As you’d expect from the team, our RPG will feature a rich, interesting story with lots of meaningful choices, branches, and endings,” studio founder Adam Williams told Eurogamer in a statement.

“Our world will feature a totalitarian regime seeking to crush a rebellion, with competing factions and allegiances the player can join, giving them the full freedom to create the hero – or antihero – they want to be,” he continued.

The upcoming mature fantasy RPG will have a “deep undercurrent of prophecy and the supernatural which will elevate the player’s adventure into the realms of mythology”, but will also focus on providing players with “full, classic RPG gameplay”.

This includes “including combat, character creation, recruitable companions, romances and more”, Williams explained. “Our ambition is to combine that ‘golden-age of RPGs’ design with a next-level interactive storytelling.”

As for Chris Avellone, the iconic game designer explained that Williams shared the vision for the RPG and he asked if he could join. Not only is Avellone part of the team, but he will be playing a major role in the creation of this new universe.

“I love the design principles he’s outlining for the game, and even better, I love the narrative construction he’s implementing as well,” Avellone said. “To be a part of it on the ground floor is pretty amazing, and it’s a rare opportunity in the industry.”

While Avellone was removed from numerous projects in 2020 after a number of now-retracted allegations arose, the game developer has continued to work on new games as a designer, consultant, writer, and advisor.

Alongside Republic Games’ upcoming RPG, the game designer is also a narrative designer on Judas, the upcoming first-person immersive sim by System Shock and BioShock creator Ken Levine.