Annapurna Announces Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth As First Internally Developed Title

gamepur.com:

The Annapurna Interactive Showcase 2023 event ended with a huge reveal, as the company announced Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth, its first internally developed title. This will be the fourth video game set in the Blade Runner universe, following a shoot-em-up released in ’85, the classic Westwood Studios game in ’97, and a VR game from 2018.

Blade Runner is a dark sci-fi franchise about hyper-realistic androids who hide among humanity in a dystopian future. This setting is ripe for video game adaptations but has only received a few over the years. This could be because it’s easy enough to tell stories about decaying societies with realistic robots that you can make a game without needing to pay for expensive film licenses.

Related: Classic 1997 Blade Runner game getting remastered enhanced edition

The Annapurna Interactive Showcase was one of the closing shows of Summer of Gaming 2023. The event ended with a bang as Chelsea Hash (Solar Ash, What Remains of Edith Finch) revealed they would be directing Annapurna Interactive’s first internally developed title: Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth. A trailer is now available on the Game Trailers YouTube channel.

The trailer reveals that Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth happens after the Black Out event. The Black Out happened in May 2022, when a plot to detonate a nuclear warhead over Los Angeles succeeded, causing a ten-day electricity blackout in the region. This resulted in Replicant production stopping. The dialogue in the trailer suggests that the protagonist is a Blade Runner who has been brought out of retirement to hunt for Replicants, which have mysteriously reappeared.

Unfortunately, the trailer was short on concrete