Renowned game designer and former Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan has revealed his first game since leaving Blizzard. The project, titled The Legend of California, was announced during Kaplan’s appearance on Lex Fridman’s podcast.
The game is an online survival crafting project. According to Kaplan, many players will likely see it as just another Rust clone, since gamers often like to categorize everything into familiar genres. However, the developer views The Legend of California differently.
Kaplan explained that he considers the project primarily an action game where all elements come together to form a cohesive experience.
The story takes place on a fictional island version of California during the height of the Gold Rush. The developers decided to transform the familiar region into a mythical place that players can rediscover from scratch. The world will try to remain authentic to the historical period while also allowing creative changes that fit the alternate history setting.
Kaplan said the world is hand crafted in the shape of real California, with well known landmarks placed exactly where they exist in the real world. At the same time, several points of interest, including a massive fortress inspired by Alcatraz, will change locations depending on the map seed.
The Legend of California will not include traditional levels. Instead, the game will feature tiered difficulty zones. Their locations will also depend on world generation, ensuring that no two servers or play sessions are exactly the same.
Visually, the game draws strong inspiration from the works of painter Albert Bierstadt, who created sweeping landscapes of California in the 19th century. Kaplan said this artistic, thoughtful and deliberate approach is what he wants his new studio, Kintsugiyama, to be known for. He explained that he loves building worlds, and the main goal of The Legend of California was exactly that: to create a beautiful, living and interesting world that players will want to return to.
The Legend of California does not yet have a confirmed release date, but Kaplan emphasized that players will be able to try it very soon.
He noted that unlike Blizzard, where everything had to be extremely polished before release, Kintsugiyama plans to actively involve players in the development process and gather feedback from the community.
While the full release date is still unknown, an early alpha version of The Legend of California is expected to arrive later this month.
Platforms have not been announced yet, but the game can already be added to a wishlist on Steam.
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