With Set for, 2023 is going to be a big year for action RPGs. But there is more to look forward to beyond this year. Thursday, – an independent studio founded by Phil Shenk and Peter Hu, two former Blizzard North developers – announced the hiring of Diablo series co-creator Erich Schaefer. In an interview with , the studio said Schaefer will serve as lead creative director on a new action-RPG. Details about the project are scant, but what Moon Beast shared with Schaefer was enough to convince him to come out of retirement from him.
“We have ideas to change the genre with a different approach to progression and try to solve some of the problems that PvE games have, especially games, like the ones that the Diablo franchise has faced,” Shenk said. GamesBeat. The three men worked on Diablo II. Notably, Shenk is credited as the game’s primary character artist, and was responsible for designing the appearance of some of the game’s character classes, including the necromancer and assassin. lord of destruction Diablo II excellent expansion from 2001, it features a tribute to Shenk in the form of a monster that you must kill to complete one of the Act V quests.
Schaefer said GamesBeat Moon Beast currently employs around 12 people, making it smaller than many of the other studios working in the ARPG genre. The good news is that Schaefer has a lot of experience leading small teams. In Runic Games, he did torchlight with a team of about 25 people. “I want to work on projects that are fun and really try to do something different,” Schaefer said. “It’s impressive what the Moon Beast team has built in such a short time. It ignited my imagination with possibilities, and that’s a big part of why I wanted to come on board.”
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