Another year means time for another yearly august update. We've got some important (and as per usual, bittersweet) announcements to share with you, so let's jump straight to it.
As we have talked over the history of Resurgence and its development last year, we used to have a habit of being overambitious which is why most projects go down. Despite having a very tiny team, we have decided to persist and keep this project alive. However it didn't happen without some sacrifices, as we started cutting content and refining our ideas to make the game shorter and more manageable to develop for such a small team. It didn't take long to realize that if we kept cutting so much content, soon enough Resurgence would become merely a shell of its former self. After some discussing we've finally made a decision which was floating around for a few years now. So, we are a bit heart broken to announce that Resurgence will not premiere in its originally intended full-game standalone format. Instead, we are switching to an episodic format - say hello to Anthology - a five-part game set in the universe of Half-Life which will take you on the journey surrounding the Uprising of City 37 with each of the episodes providing a different point of few on the conflict.
Each episode serves as a short story complete with their own protagonists, different settings, themes and gameplay opportunities. This way we will be able to handle the amount of content we want to provide without worrying about being stuck in the development hell for another 6 years. At this moment we are not quite ready to talk about details regarding each episode, but we will share more information in the upcoming update. What we can say is that we have some fairly cool things up our sleeve, and with the new format we will be able to experiment with some gameplay features which will make each episode a bit different and add more variety to the gameplay. Also, it is worth mentioning that this format will allow us to react to your experiences with the game and adjust the future episodes based on the reception. Everything has a silver lining in the end, right?
Oh, and in case you were wondering what happened to our side project - Resurgence: The Union - then don't worry. The Union has been merged with Resurgence and will premiere as one of the episodes.
Also, we'd like to apologize for the lack of the grand-sized update we promised last year. Though we've been piling up the content for it in the past 18 months, there are still a few missing puzzle pieces we need to get done before the content we want to share with you could be considered polished enough to show off. The Grand Update which is going to provide a proper insight into the newest iteration of Resurgence we've been working at since 2017 is planned to happen sometime in early 2019 - so don't worry, you won't have to wait another full 12 months to hear more from us! And because of the amount of content we've been piling up, this update is going to be absolutely gigantic. But we don't want to keep you hanging and dry until it arrives, so how about a little tease?
Thank you for your support and understanding the circumstances. We're exited to see what the future has in store, and we hope to hear your thoughts on the matter. Thanks again for sticking around and have a great day!
Sounds like the UnderHell treatment.
Yeah, that's a fair comparison. We're aiming for 1-2 hour long episodes which hopefully won't force you to wait years between each other, though ;)
Thanks for your support!
You don't wait years for Underhell... it's basically cancelled by now.
As much as I am not fond of the Episodic release schedule, I am looking forward to playing the first episode.
Can't wait to see it in 2019! c:
Personally I'm not very fond of this format either and we've been delaying this moment for as long as we could, but it does seem like the only sensible way of making this game happen without more sacrifices.
What I can say to perhaps set people's mind at ease a little bit more, is that each episode can be treated as a standalone short-story which won't leave you with an awful cliffhanger. At the same time, all episodes are connected and will build an overarching plot of the game. We're going to do our best to ensure that there will be something to look forward to in the future episodes (as I've said, each ep is a little bit different) but at the same time make it so that you won't feel too annoyed by the wait.
Thanks for the support throughout the years, we're REALLY excited to present the Grand Update to you next year ;)
Stuff like this happens all the time you get too big then you have to cut it down but then cut it too much there is nothing work with so going episodic is a good move. More flexibility and trim down only what is needed.
Exactly :) If we kept cutting we would still have something to work with, but it would degrade back into being a simple Half-Life 2 mod / mappack, while what we've been working on is essentially a total-conversion mod merely set in the same universe.
And yes episodic format definitely adds more flexibility in various departments, we are going to have an opportunity to experiment with a couple of features which should be really interesting and intriguing.
Thanks for sticking around!
It's so good to hear these updates, regardless of the news they bring. I'm personally for the episodic idea since Daxter mentioned Underhell, which is theoretically on indefinite hiatus while Mxthe works at NWI, but at least an episode was released and all that hard work finally saw the light of day. Life happens and, even if you guys couldn't work on any later episodes, it would be fulfilling to see at least the groundwork and inspiration for the mod. Again, take your time, you guys are a few of the last modders for Half Life 2 and it would be a real treat to see quality mods before it's all over!
Thanks for the support!
It would take a lot more of accusing us that we're another HDTF to demotivate the team enough to abandon the project, so I really don't see us not finishing all 5 episodes :)
Hopefully we'll have more juicy details in early 2019. Take care!
Will it come to Steam ?
Yes, Resurgence will premiere via Steam as it was greenlighted way back in 2014.
Another question is probably 'how much it will cost?' I guess whatever price you pay for the internet and electric bills, otherwise the game itself is 200% free (It's really messed up we got to the point when even modders like us have to reassure that the game is free to play)
Have a nice day!