Something Wicked this way comes.
It’s going to be set in Portugal around the forming of the Knights Templar.
In other words, it’s super-early in the development process.
“Wyrdsong is a preternatural, occult, historical fantasy game,” Gardiner explains to me.
“We’re setting it in Portugal around the 12th century.
Portugal is the origin of the Knights Templar - a lot of people don’t realise that.
There’s a lot of discussion about where they actually originated.
A lot of documentation seems to indicate that the Templars originated there.
We’re going into the darker elements, the secret society and occult elements of Templar history.”
“It definitely is on our mind,” Gardiner says when I mention it.
“We want to play into, again, the fantasy idea of what the Templars are.
We’re not a historically pure game …
But I do agree that has been a tough conversation.”
The other tough conversation revolves around the game Gardiner previously led: Fallout 76.
“I think there was a difficult perspective on that game [launching] in a difficult state.
I’ve had several kids - obviously not me personally but my wife!
- and you don’t remember how hard they are.
When you have the second, it’s like, ‘What were we thinking?
This is so hard!’
So it’s easier to remember when things didn’t go well.
To spell it out: “We are not a crunch studio,” he assures me.
And then if things get difficult, making smart cuts and decisions to prevent these problems.
I’m a big believer that scheduling is a tool, not a weapon.”
