A recent report alleges that Microsoft is working on a Wu-Tang Clan RPG with developer Brass Lion Entertainment, with an original soundtrack from the hip hop group.
Look. I get it. Given the last 18 months, you would be forgiven for thinking that we might be pulling your leg this fine Monday morning. However, two separate sources are confident that this game is in development with a newly-founded studio dedicated to “creating original fictional universes that center on Black, Brown, and other traditionally marginalized characters, cultures, and stories.”
Codenamed Shaolin, journalist Jez Corden claimed that the first he’d heard of the Wu-Tang game was in July of this year, though he wasn’t sure if it was centring on the martial arts style or the musical collective. He was able to share that the game is a third-person melee-oriented RPG with an anime art style. The campaign itself is a compact couple of dozen hours and there is seasonal content planned for post-launch patches. And, there’s even the ability to team up in a four-player co-op mode.
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Furthermore, Brass Lion Entertainment has a team who have worked on titles like Sleeping Dogs, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Fallout 3, Mass Effect 3, and more. With a possible soundtrack from Wu-Tang Clan on the cards too, this is sounding a little too good to be true. Which is why it’s reassuring that VentureBeat’s Jeff Grubb threw his lot in with this rumour, as he’s also been on the money in the past with his industry scoops.
Corden reckons that the game will be a unique addition to the roster of upcoming Xbox Game Pass titles, after Microsoft slowly but surely started investing in the creativity of its subsidiaries. Founded only two years ago, Brass Lion Entertainment is aiming to develop games comparable to Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians with regard to their representation of other cultures.
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"In addition to it being a creative gap, there's also a really clear open market position that naturally will get occupied by good titles that fill that need," explained CEO Bryna Dabby Smith in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. "Whenever there is a need from an entertainment perspective or from a representation perspective, there are people who will spend money for that because it's important to them, or because it speaks to them. We feel very strongly that not only is it something that creatively and culturally is important, but it's also a business need we can fill."
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We’ll keep you in the loop as and when we learn more about the possible Wu-Tang Clan game — Corden has noted that one of the studio’s co-founder shared career opportunities to work on an upcoming "unannounced action RPG" with an anime aesthetic.
Featured Image Credit: Wu-Tang Clan