Project Wight: Everything We Know About the Open-World Viking Horror RPG
Project Wight is a mysterious upcoming game from the Stockholm-based independent studio The Outsiders. The company is headed by Ben Cousins, formerly of DICE, while the game’s development is led by David Goldfarb, also a former Battlefield developer. Project Wight is the studio’s first game, originally announced in 2016. Since then, however, the studio has been very quiet. So, what do we know about this mysterious open-world, Viking-themed, horror RPG?
Project Wight: An Open-World Viking Horror RPG
Announced with a “Sneak Peek” trailer back in November of 2016, Project Wight is designed to be a huge open-world RPG. As the game is currently in development, fans have seen very little so far from the studio; the 2016 trailer is the only video they have ever released to the public. Although the Project Wight is known to be an RPG, we know almost nothing about the role-playing mechanics it will feature. Where the game really sets itself apart is its setting and premise.
Project Wight is set “in an alternate history of the early Viking era”. In this alternate history, humans share the Earth with the remnants of an ancient and monstrous species, which has been hunted nearly to extinction by humans. While the game has horror elements, the player is actually cast as one of the monsters, not as a human. The only existing trailer shows the player as a juvenile monster, hunted by humans and unable to fight back. However, it also gives a brief glimpse of an older adult creature which is capable of flight, staggering roars, and brutal feats of strength. These monsters have yet to be named, and are only called “the creature” in the trailer.
Beowulf and Grendel: Monsters on Both Sides
Project Wight draws inspiration from the Norse tale of Beowulf, with the monsters inspired by the beast Grendel. In that tale, the Shielding people are terrorized by a monstrous beast, which is eventually slain by the hero Beowulf. Later, however, the beast’s even more powerful mother arrives to get revenge. Project Wight has clear parallels, only in this case the child-parent roles are reversed; the trailer depicts the player witnessing their father being killed by human hunters. Besides vengeance, it’s unclear what the game’s story will entail.
Goldfarb spoke about the tale at the time, relating; “Most of my life has been spent feeling like I don’t understand a lot of perspectives, except that I always side with the ‘other’. When I read Grendel, it was affecting to me personally and I thought I’d love to do something with it one day.”
By flipping the norms of the tale on their head, Goldfarb portrays humanity as the cruel and murderous villains. When the player is the monster being hunted, it’s easy to see how villainous humanity can seem, and that is a major part of the game’s themes; realizing humanity’s own cruelty. As a result, Project Wight is likely to deal with some very emotionally heavy concepts. Of course, we still know very little about Project Wight. There could be plenty more that has yet to be revealed. Also, it’s worth noting that a lot can change in two years. The final product could end up being very different from the original design.
When We Could Hear More
Many fans were hoping that Project Wight would make an appearance at E3 2018. However, that proved not to be the case. For The Outsiders to avoid E3 suggests that the game still has a way to go before being finished; otherwise, the studio would have wanted to start building hype among fans for its eventual release. The good news is that Project Wight appears to still be in development; there have been no announcements to suggest that it has been cancelled or delayed. Given the choice to avoid E3, it seems likely that Project Wight won’t be releasing within the next year. However, it’s always possible that the studio intentionally avoided E3 so to avoid being drowned out by all the other announcements at the event. For now, fans will have to wait and listen out for any announcements from The Outsiders in the future.