Lilith Studio came onto the scene last year as somewhat of a savior in gaming with the announcement of Allison Road. It was supposed to be a spiritual successor to the Silent Hills P.T. Demo that Konami cancelled, only Allison Road ended up being cancelled, too. Well, now it's back.
According to IGN, Lilith Studio has been re-branded to Far From Home and the original maker of Allison Road, Christian Kesler, has dwindled down the staff to just himself and his wife. Kesler explains how the project sparked back to life after such a bumpy road following the start and stop of the Kickstarter and the start and stop of the publishing deal with Team17, telling IGN...
After the set back, I took a bit of a break from working on [Allison Road] and re-evaluated all the work that had been done so far --- the whole journey, so to speak. I started making a few (in my opinion) necessary changes to the story and the flow, little bits and pieces here and there, and before I knew it, it sort of naturally came back to life.
Originally, the project spawned out of the startling cancellation of the highly anticipated Silent Hills, which was to be co-directed by both Guillermo del Toro and Hideo Kojima. The game was set to star The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus. Escalating tensions between Kojima and Konami made the whole event fall right in on top of itself, which eventually led to Konami firing Kojima.
In the wake of all the drama was Allison Road, a game based on the concepts put forward by Silent Hills and the design of a playable alpha called the P.T. Demo (a demo that Konami later had removed from the PlayStation Store). Gamers were absolutely livid about Konami's treatment of a video game legend and an equally legendary franchise. However, the cancellation of Kojima's project paved the way for Allison Road to quickly take the spotlight with its timely announcement and a brief alpha demo that showcased a similar kind of fidelity to the Fox Engine-powered Silent Hills.
However, things just didn't work out so well and the Kickstarter to Allison Road -- after gaining more than half its required funds over the course of a few weeks -- ended up being canceled after the developers managed to sign a publishing deal with Team17. The publishing deal didn't last long, though. The game was cancelled again after the deal fell through and Kesler had to break the news to the general gaming audience that things just weren't working out.
Fast-forward several months later and Kesler is now back at the helm of Allison Road. The game is now being developed once more, only this time it's just a one-man operation. No publisher and no Kickstarter.
According to the IGN article, Kesler explained to them that he's doing all the texturing, modeling and design work and shaders on his own. He also states that if he needs help he will go calling for it when the time comes, but for now he'll work slowly on bringing the horror game to life... alone.
There's no release date yet for Allison Road, but as it moves along in development we'll be sure to keep an eye on it and let you know when it's ready for release.
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