With set in , 2023 will be a big year for action RPGs. But there is much more to look forward to this year. On Thursday, – an indie studio founded by Phil Shenk and Peter Hu, two former Blizzard North developers – announced the acquisition of Diablo series co-creator Erich Schaefer. In an interview with , the studio said Schaefer will serve as lead creator director on the new action RPG. Details of the project are scant, but what Moon Beast shared with Schaefer was reportedly enough to convince him to come out of retirement.
“We have ideas for changing the genre with a different approach to development and trying to solve some of the problems found in PvE games, especially games like the one faced by the franchise in Hell,” Shenk said. GamesBeat. The three men are working Diablo II. Notably, Shenk is credited as the game’s lead artist, and is responsible for designing the look of some of the game’s character classes, including the necromancer and assassin. Lord of Destruction, Diablo II excellent expansion in 2001, there is a tribute to Shenk in the form of a monster that you must kill to complete one of the quests in Act V.
Schaefer said GamesBeat Moon Beast currently employs about 12 people, making it smaller than most other studios working in the ARPG genre. The good news is Schaefer has a lot of experience leading small teams. In the Runic Games, he made Torchlight with a group of about 25 people. “I like to work on projects that are fun and really try to do something different,” Schaefer said. “It’s impressive what the Moon Beast team has built in such a short amount of time. It’s fired up my imagination with possibilities, and that’s a big part of why I want to come on board.”
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