Sebastien Mitton, art director at Arkane Lyon, shared a few pieces of concept art today from the newly announced Blade video game as he invited people to apply for positions within the studio.
There’s still a lot about the Blade game we don’t know about; it was only announced last week at The Game Awards 2023 with a short teaser that featured no gameplay. Hopefully for fans, though, the final product will be dripping with style if this concept art is anything to go by.
The first piece depicts Blade standing on the rooftops of Paris (the game’s main setting) during night time and it is deliciously moody. We’re hoping this means Blade will get to freely traverse both the streets and rooves in a similar vein to Insomniac’s Spider-Man games. Given the focus on vampires, we imagine most (if not all) of the game will be spent during night time as well. You can also see what look like surveillance ships/drones floating through the air; their spotlights beaming down on the city below.
Publisher Bethesda has already said Blade takes place in “a quarantined section of Paris in the middle of a supernatural emergency… forcing Parisians to shelter inside their homes at night to wait for sunrise.” So, we imagine these surveillance things are on the lookout for vampires. Although considering Blade himself is half vampire, perhaps they’ll be another obstacle, forcing Blade to avoid their spotlights.
This would point to Blade featuring elements of stealth gameplay; something the second piece of concept art emphasizes as it shows Blade hiding behind a corner observing a group of people. It’d certainly make sense given Arkane’s previous experience, with the likes of Deathloop and the Dishonored games incorporating stealth elements too.
The third and final piece of art simply sees Blade being attacked in a subway by a flurry of what are presumably bats. A nearby train has passengers, but their fangs, glowing yellow eyes, and pointy ears give away that they’re vampires. Yet they don’t seem hostile; a couple are just sat on the floor with their heads drooped over. Perhaps not every vampire Blade encounters will be a bloodthirsty monster in dire need of slaying.
Regardless, there are some very excited fans in the Twitter responses. It seems Redfall‘s lacklustre launch hasn’t completely killed peoples’ faith in Arkane.
This looks DOPE AF!
— Rafal Jaki (@GwentBro) December 14, 2023
Same art style as Deathloop? Count me in 😎🔥
— 🏴☠️Best Generation🏴☠️ (@JorgeLValdespi1) December 14, 2023
Getting some serious stealth vibes from these, we’re back baby 😭😭
— HellboyNews (@HellboyNews) December 14, 2023
Published: Dec 14, 2023 11:52 am