A month ago, I wrote an article on the silence of news from Streum On Studios latest project, Space Hulk: Deathwing.
In this article, I wrote about how for the last six months (now seven) there had been no news, updates or announcements from Streum On Studios, or their publisher Focus Home Interactive, about development of the game. This has changed, with the recent release of several new screenshots of the game.
Good looking stuff, and something fans of Warhammer: 40,000 and the game itself will welcome, especially due to the radio silence for the last seven months. While these pictures are welcome news, there is still problems with even this. Firstly, they’re ‘cinematic’ screenshots, in other words, they’re not from the position of the player during gameplay, which means what you’re seeing isn’t a fair representation of what it’s like to play. Secondly, screenshots are easily modified (the term communities use for this is ‘bullshot’, a term to mean fabricated images to increase the appearance of a games graphical prowess) and thus might not be a fair representation of the game itself; that’s not to say they are ‘bullshotted’, it’s just a known practice, by companies big and small, to better sell a product.
Thirdly, there is still no solid release date, according to Space Hulk: Deathwing’s Facebook page, the release date is “2016”; a date which can mean anything from tomorrow till 31st December. Fourthly, there is still no gameplay footage; this is still a concern for fans of the game as the only footage we actually have is from a third party recording gameplay footage on a low quality camera at E3. The final problem is the following; the job offers on Streum On Studio’s website are still up. If this is a mistake by those in charge of the website, then fair enough, but if not, it still shows that Streum On Studio’s are looking for people to fill job vacancies. With the seven month silence being broken with only four new screenshots, it is still a concern that the studio is looking for these slots to be filled. Streum On could easily soothe peoples fears by releasing a high quality video of the game actually being played, to give fans a detailed look on how exactly the game will play.
In short, the release of these new screenshots is relief for those following development, but I fear it is not enough to rekindle the enthusiasum which followed this game after the trailers were released. If nobody knows about the game, then nobody will buy it. However, in the coming months, the content people want to see may arrive, but until then, I don’t get too excited, after all, the galaxy is full on untold horrors.
