Remedy Entertainment has announced that Project Vanguard, a cooperative, free-to-play multiplayer game that has been brewing at the developer for many years, is now being rebooted and given a new code name: “Kestrel.”
According to the press release that Remedy shared this week, Vanguard is being cleansed because it, along with its publishing partner, Tencent, didn’t think it would perform too well in today’s F2P market, citing “uncertainties” amid a “rapidly changing” market:
Remedy signed a global agreement with Tencent as its publishing partner on December 28, 2021, to develop Vanguard. Due to uncertainties in creating a successful game to the rapidly changing free-to-play market and associated risks, the parties have discussed a new direction for the game project, which will be given the new codename, “Kestrel.”
Remedy goes on to say that the project has returned to its concept phase, an indication that Kestrel may not be playable for many years. (Remedy has been trying to get Vanguard off the ground since 2019 or even earlier, according to years-old presentations.)
It also sounds like some of Vanguard’s team may have been moved over to the Control sequel, with that being one of Remedy’s biggest projects:
The project will return to a concept phase. Part of the former Vanguard development team will move to work on Remedy’s other ongoing projects, while the core leadership and select members of the development team of Kestrel will focus on the project’s new direction from the concept stage onwards to create a premium game with a strong cooperative multiplayer component. The new experience will lean more into Remedy’s core strengths and be built on many of the features, assets and themes already designed for Vanguard.
Story details are unknown, but with Remedy building out an interconnected universe, Kestrel is expected to include ties to Alan Wake, Control, and even Quantum Break, as indicated in Remedy’s latest sequel, which sees Shawn Ashmore back as “Tim Breaker.”
“We have made some great strides in free-to-play and multiplayer development in Vanguard. After a lot of careful consideration, we believe that taking on a new direction where the game will be built more around Remedy’s core competences is the right way to go. We are creating another distinct Remedy game with Tencent’s continued support in making a great cooperative multiplayer experience”, said Tero Virtala, the CEO of Remedy Entertainment.
Other projects that Remedy is working on include remakes of Max Payne and Max Payne 2, developed in collaboration with Rockstar Games:
