We may be talking about the next generation of Xbox before we can play Perfect Dark

It could not shock you to be taught that the Excellent Darkish reboot – which was unveiled in December 2020 – has seemingly had a tumultuous improvement journey. The sport was by no means proven, talked about or teased in any approach on any stage since then.

In December, we’ll be celebrating the third anniversary of its reveal, and it appears to be like like we’ll be ready for much longer but to really play it. That is in response to a wide-ranging new report from IGN about Excellent Darkish, which paints a (sadly commonplace) image concerning the state of improvement.

The report cites 13 individuals who labored on the sport, who describe an surroundings of regularly shifting concepts and targets, and a spread of setbacks on account of senior management change and core designer departures. In keeping with the report, the sport is probably going two to a few years away from launch.

Contemplating Microsoft constructed a brand new studio, The Initiative, with the precise activity of rebooting the sequence, the corporate possible was anticipating one thing to be launched by now. Excellent Darkish began improvement in 2018, two years earlier than its reveal trailer in 2020.

The report says the sport “made little progress” since that reveal, regardless of having the assist of Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics, which joined in 2021 to co-develop with The Initiative. The undertaking, per the report, was rebooted solely final 12 months, with improvement now progressing on Unreal Engine 5.

Seemingly conscious of simply how lengthy improvement has taken (and can proceed to), The Initiative is reportedly contemplating an episodic launch of the sport. That is one path issues may go not less than, judging by reported improvement plans, however IGN cautions that plans can change.

Final 12 months, Alex argued that Excellent Darkish must be greater than a spy sport. In keeping with the IGN report, the developer is specializing in creating a powerful narrative, with gameplay being a mixture of motion fight and gadget-based stealth.