Shadowrun Trilogy developers announce survival horror action RPG Graft

thesixthaxis.com:

Survival horror action RPG Graft has been announced by Harebrained, the studio behind the Shadowrun Trilogy and the mech-tastic Battletech.

Blending survival horror with action RPG isn’t just a change of pace for a studio best known for turn-based action, but it’s an interesting change of pace for this style of game. One of the key mechanics is that you can tear pieces from enemies to add them to your own person and abilities – “Every Graft brings with it some piece of its previous owner’s identity, changing more than just your physical body,” reads the blurb, in an exploration of the Ship of Theseus tale from Greek mythology.

Set in a post-cyberpunk sci-fi setting, you must escape the Arc, a continent-sized station that is falling apart as its biomechanically enhanced citizens go a bit loopy, scrabbling around for resources. There are other survivors trying to escape as well, and you can forge certain alliances with them (or stab/be stabbed in the back by them), and as you explore, you’ll fight strange experiements that have been unleashed, and the agents of an AI gone insane that are stalking you.

Harebrained – formerly known as Harebrained Schemes – is best known for their Shadowrun trilogy of RPGs and the turn-based tactical mech action of Battletech, but a defining chapter in the studio’s history came with the disappointing release of The Lamplighters League last year. A 1930s pulpy spin on turn-based tactical action, it launched in a poor state, leading to   low review scores thanks in part to technical hitches, and sales were then so poor that Paradox wrote down the game’s development and took the financial hit – the studio also faced significant layoffs before Paradox and Harebrained came to an agreement to let the studio go back to being independent at the start of this year.

Source: GRAFT