Scott Tortorice
Senior Member
Stalker, Metro, Survarium, and now Areal. Choose your poison. And pick your side:
http://www.bluesnews.com/s/152700/areal-spiritual-successor-to-stalker
http://www.bluesnews.com/s/152699/survarium-devs-question-areal
http://www.bluesnews.com/s/152700/areal-spiritual-successor-to-stalker
Survarium's response:A new Kickstarter is off to a good start towards its $50,000 goal to develop Areal, a first-person shooter from West Games, a group of former GSC Game World developers who are calling this project the "definitive spiritual successor to the cult hit S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series" (thanks Josh via Polygon). Here's word on Areal:
Areal is a new video game that's being developed by the people behind S.T.A.L.K.E.R. It features a massive and intricately detailed open world environment that is extremely varied and colorful, even though it's set in a post-apocalyptic setting. Areal depicts a future where civilization has fallen apart due to an unearthly material called Metamorphite, which eventually spreads, corrupts and infects the whole world. The source of Metamorphite comes from a meteor that impacted the earth long ago, and it is the site of constant conflict and bloodshed.
Areal's story is not linear – players can choose how their characters act and speak – everything from how you talk to who you kill changes the storyline of Areal. There is no morality system in Areal, so you are free to make choices that you think are best in any given situation, without being blinded and limited by a standard good/evil system. Ultimately, Areal is the culmination of everything that we want to see from a post apocalyptic game, and it's something that we can realize with full creative freedom because of the unique platform that is Kickstarter. All we need is your support!
http://www.bluesnews.com/s/152699/survarium-devs-question-areal
If the story above about Areal sounds familiar, it's probably because it's reminiscent of Survarium, a different project in the works at from Vostok Games, a developer also comprised of ex-S.T.A.L.K.E.R. developers. Survarium makes similar spiritual successor claims to Areal, and according to MCV, a thread on the Survarium forums included threats of legal action, but this has been deleted. VG247 has a statement from Vostok Games PR and Marketing Manager Oleg Yavorsky refuting some of West Games' pedigree and rights to some of the materials they're using to promote their campaign:
So that you understand, over the years of development of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and then Metro series, there have been literally hundreds of people involved in working on various bits and pieces, starting from beta-testers up to modellers responsible for certain weapon models.
Many people came to the studio to work for a few months just for the sake of adding “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. development” to their portfolio. Frequently they claimed afterwards to be the ‘core’ developers behind the game (you wouldn’t know anyway, right?).
Yet, my biggest concern is that West Games are using the footage and assets of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and representing them as their own, which is not only illegal, but simply just not right. I guess it’s all made for the sake of getting extra publicity (which unfortunately works), but guys on Kickstarter should probably pay attention."