Obsidian’s next project is a first-person melee multiplayer game

Obsidian Entertainment, the wizards behind classic RPGs like Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity, is hiring for its next project that will comprise of an ‘exceptional first-person melee experience’ with online multiplayer features (via PC Gamer).

The studio is currently looking for combat designers, character animators, narrative designers, and network programmers to name a few of the job listings. The ‘next world class RPG’ that Obsidian has in mind would require ‘experienced programmers to develop network and multiplayer gameplay systems using Unreal Engine.’ This infers that the project is a step in a different direction for the developer, as it is best known for its single-player titles. But, it can be assumed that the ‘multi-platform RPG’ would come to PC and Xbox, given Microsoft’s acquisition of Obsidian in 2018.

The listings go on to describe a game with ‘fun, visceral, and epic combat’, focusing on delivering an ‘exceptional first-person melee experience’ with ‘first and third person animations’. It’s likely that it will include Obsidian’s quality for storytelling, as it also asks its applicants for experience with ‘branching dialogue’, ‘conversations and cut scenes’, and ‘day/night cycles’. It sounds very like The Outer Worlds, which Microsoft already has its eye on as an ‘enduring franchise’ for its platforms.
 

As far as painting a picture of what this next project will be, these inferences are more like finger-painting than a da Vinci. We won’t know exactly what this is until it properly takes shape, and that could be some time yet. But that’s alright, because we can busy ourselves with Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds until then. The Outer Worlds for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC will arrive on October 25. 

Rich played a bit of the Fallout-but-in-space game, and he enjoyed its dark humour and cosmically corrupt settings. Listen to what he got up to in The Outer Worlds below.