Sony/Bandai NamcoFromSoftware, the studio behind such wince-inducing hits as Dark Souls and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, has reportedly teamed up with Game of Thrones author George RR Martin to develop a new open world title based on Norse mythology.
We’d previously heard whispers that Martin had partnered with From to work on something, and the author recently confirmed that he had indeed consulted on a video game out of Japan, but this new report paints the most comprehensive and compelling picture of the rumoured project yet.
Bandai NamcoAccording to both GamesRadar and Gematsu, FromSoftware’s next project is called Great Rune, and will explore Norse mythology in an open world full of creatures and locations inspired by Nordic legends – much like 2018’s God of War reboot.
Gematsu writes that a person “familiar with ongoings” at FromSoftware confirmed to the publication that the project is being referred to internally as “GR.” Gematsu’s source requested they only share the acronym, while GamesRadar later noted that the game is apparently called Great Rune .
Great Rune has apparently been in development for the last three years, and will be published by Bandai Namco, just like the Dark Souls trilogy was. It’ll also feature an open world, horse riding, and will be announced at Microsoft’s E3 2019 show, if these reports are to be believed.
Previous rumblings regarding FromSoftware’s mysterious new project also suggested that the game would indeed be set in a open world, and feature several kingdoms which the player has to invade before battling the ruler of each kingdom and absorbing their unique abilities.
When these initial rumours came to light a few months back it was said that George RR Martin would be collaborating with FromSoftware on the lore of the game’s world, and would be helping to fill in the backstory.
Santa Monica StudioWhile Great Rune sounds like an incredibly cool game in theory, please be sure to take the above with a pinch of salt until we get official word. The road to E3 is always paved with rumours that don’t end up panning out, after all.
Microsoft’s E3 conference is scheduled for Sunday, June 9, so hopefully we’ll find out for sure soon.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.