Chris Avellone, who grew to become a pariah within the videogame trade following accusations of sexual misconduct in 2020 that have been in the end resolved in his favor, has joined new studio Republic Video games, which was based in 2024 by former Quantic Dream lead author Adam Williams.
“Chris has written, created, and designed for a few of the best RPGs of all time,” Williams wrote on LinkedIn. “He’s a grasp of interactive storytelling. On our listing of individuals to work with, he was on the prime.”
“Chris was on the forefront of the golden age of RPGs. We’re making a darkish fantasy story with immersive gameplay and a wealthy interactive narrative which goals to recapture that magic—and take it to the subsequent degree.”
Republic’s debut sport is at the moment unannounced, however “will function a wealthy, attention-grabbing story with numerous significant decisions, branches, and endings,” Williams instructed Eurogamer. “Our world will function a totalitarian regime looking for to crush a riot, with competing factions and allegiances the participant can be a part of, giving them the complete freedom to create the hero—or antihero—they need to be.
“There may be additionally a deep undercurrent of prophecy and the supernatural which is able to elevate the participant’s journey into the realms of mythology. However along with the narrative, we even have full, basic RPG gameplay together with fight, character creation, recruitable companions, romances and extra.”
Avellone mentioned he requested if he may work on the brand new sport after Williams “shared his imaginative and prescient and design” for it, and Williams “was greater than keen to carry [him] on board as a part of the staff.”
“I like the design rules he is outlining for the sport, and even higher, I like the narrative development he is implementing as properly,” Avellone mentioned. “To be part of it on the bottom ground is fairly superb, and it is a uncommon alternative within the trade.”
Avellone does certainly have a powerful listing of writing and design credit to his title, on video games together with Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment, Fallout: New Vegas, Knights of the Outdated Republic 2, and a complete bunch extra. He left Obsidian Leisure in 2015 however his popularity as a author stored him in demand, and he continued to contribute to quite a few initiatives as a freelancer.
That largely got here to an finish following the 2020 accusations of sexual misconduct, nevertheless, as studios moved rapidly to finish their affiliation with him. Avellone filed a libel lawsuit over the allegations in 2021, and in 2023 the go well with was settled with a “seven-figure cost” to Avellone and a proper retraction of the declare by two of his accusers.
