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Annapurna Interactive have announced their first internally developed game at their publishing showcase this evening, and it’s an all-new Blade Runner game. Exciting! It’s called Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth, and it’s set “squarely between” the original Blade Runner film and its more recent sequel, Blade Runner 2049, say Annapurna. The reveal trailer doesn’t give too much away at this stage, but I’m getting very big Her Story and Immortality vibes from it. Come and have a gander below.
Right now, the only bits of information Annapurna Interactive have revealed about the game are some dry business facts. Such as: it’s being developed in partnership with Alcon Interactive Group, whose parent company Alcon Entertainment own the brand and rights to Blade Runner, and it’s being directed by Chelsea Hash, who’s worked on a lot of other Annapurna-published games including What Remains Of Edith Finch and Solar Ash.
The third and final neon-drenched factoid I have is that it’s going to be set in Los Angeles after the Blackout hits, which is an event in the Blade Runner universe that was fleshed out in the 15-minute anime short film, Blade Runner Black Out 2022, directed by Shinichiro “Cowboy Bebop” Watanabe. This was created ahead of Blade Runner 2049 coming out to serve as a kind of mini-prequel to film, along with two other shorts called 2036: Nexus Dawn and 2048: Nowhere To Run.
Annapurna’s press release also mentions that Alcon’s Television Group recently announced they were in pre-production on a new live-action series called Blade Runner 2099, which is coming to Amazon Prime. Will 2033: Labyrinth be connected to it in some way? Goodness knows, although it seems an odd thing to mention if it’s not.
In any case, that’s all the information I’ve been told about 2033: Labyrinth so far, so make of that what you will. As to what kind of game 2033: Labyrinth is actually going to be when it comes out… Your guess is as good as mine right now. The only other Blade Runner game there’s been is the one from 1997 (good lord, has it really been 26 years since that came out?), which was a point and click adventure in which you played rookie Ray McCoy, but it’s currently not clear if 2033: Labyrinth is a continuation of that story or something completely different (I did try and zoom right in on blokey’s LAPD badge from the trailer, but alas I couldn’t make out any discernible name deets).
As mentioned above, I do get the sense that it might be in the same vein as Sam Barlow’s Her Story and Immortality spliced with a bit of Cyberpunk 2077’s brain-dancing, what with yer man looking like he’s scrubbing through old CCTV-looking footage to maybe solve a mystery of some kind, but that’s pure speculation on my part.
Annapurna say more details on the game will be “revealed soon”, so here’s hoping it’s not too long before we find out more about it.