What is it with Japan that makes it the ideal setting for stealth and action games? It doesn't matter if it's Assassin's Creed or The Witcher, fans have always had this idea that the next installment in the aforementioned franchises would do great in, at the very least, a Japan-based setting.
It probably doesn't help quell fan interest when games like Nioh and Ghost of Tsushima showcased just how awesome using Japan as a setting for a video game can be. Unfortunately, save for rumors, we don't think that either Assassin's Creed or The Witcher will be set in Japan, modern or feudal, anytime soon. The good news is that some former CD Projekt RED developers are working to turn this into a reality.
Jakub Ben and Marcin Michalski founded Dark Passengers after working on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and as "outsource partners" on Cyberpunk 2077. Their studio's first project is a first-person perspective online multiplayer game built in Unreal Engine 5. The still-untitled upcoming game will support both PvP and co-op PvE and will be set in feudal Japan.
According to Dark Passenger's website, the studio wants "to create highly exciting [online] experiences that are focused both on cooperation and rivalry." Meanwhile, the project will use a "locomotion system" that will allow the kind of freedom of movement such as "running on arrows that were fired by other players, fast climbing on vertical surfaces with the use of shuko claws or using yari spear like a pole to jump over obstacles." Finally, the studio adds that the game's engaging close ranged combat" will demand both skill and co-operation.
