Darkish Passenger, a studio fashioned 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 singular 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 Crimson veterans, together with Marcin Michalski. With their expertise on iconic titles like The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, the crew goals to create an unique IP in contrast to something avid gamers have seen earlier than.
The core crew blends the artwork experience of RealTime Warriors with high expertise from acclaimed studios like CDPR, Individuals Can Fly, Reikon, Flying Wild Hog , and Covenant.dev. With the backing, Warsaw, Poland-based Darkish Passenger plans to develop its crew to greater than 30. The corporate goals to achieve greater than 60 by launch.
Poland has solidified its place as Europe’s high online game developer and exporter, with the business 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 bold creators. Darkish Passenger is tapping into this wealthy expertise base with aspirations to grow to be a number one pressure in Europe’s gaming panorama.
The crew is about 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 crew is creating a complicated locomotion system that permits for seamless motion, together with quick climbing, wall working, base leaping, working on water, and even creating new pathways with spears and arrows.
To offer the last word ninja expertise, Darkish Passenger will permit gamers to unlock and extensively customise their characters, tools, and expertise and even create their private dojo. The sport’s arsenal will function a variety of totally customizable weapons and firearms, together with each unique and iconic historic variants. Some weapons will even improve mobility, enabling gamers to climb greater, leap over obstacles, or assist wall working making fight and locomotion actually interconnected.
Darkish Passenger is targeted 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, guaranteeing its longevity and doubtlessly increasing the narrative into different media. The founders imagine trendy on-line experiences are about extra than simply competitors; they intention to create immersive, socially-driven gameplay targeted on interpersonal dynamics. Their ardour for multiplayer motion video games fuels this imaginative and prescient, providing distinctive alternatives for builders passionate concerning the style.
“Although we’re best known for triple-A, story-driven RPGs, our true passion has always been multiplayer,” stated Jakub Ben, CEO of Darkish Passenger, in an announcement. “This obsession started over two decades ago, playing fighting games, LAN parties, and tournaments in Quake 3 Arena and Unreal Tournament. The intense emotions of playing together and against each other forged unforgettable stories. We’ve always dreamed of creating a multiplayer game that orchestrates those moments.”
Ben added, “While the multiplayer landscape is more exciting than ever, we still see vast untapped potential. It takes imagination, trust, and vision to fully understand our direction, and these are the qualities we found in The Games Fund. This investment is a game-changer for us—it’s helped expand our team and set the foundations for our project, allowing us to focus on production.”
The Darkish Passenger crew is exploring probably the most participating elements of the game-as-a-service (GaaS) mannequin, with a concentrate on avoiding predatory practices and unfair mechanics. As a substitute, they intention to prioritize reside operations, neighborhood engagement, a gradual 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 with a purpose to regularly enhance the expertise.
“We’re committed to investing in the CEE gaming industry, and Poland has always been strong in PC and console single-player game development. However, this team chose to follow their passion for co-op multiplayer games, which is a vision we strongly believe in,” stated Ilia Eremeev, managing companion of The Video games Fund, in an announcement. “There’s a shortage of games that dare to take risks and deliver bold, unapologetic experiences, leaving players craving that “Hell yeah” issue.”
He added, “After seeing their early demo, we instantly recognized that Dark Passenger is set to deliver exactly that. The quality of the experience, given the team’s size and development time, was astonishing. We immediately aligned with their vision: an exciting, undiluted power fantasy. We’re thrilled to partner with these great founders on this adventure.”
