Exclusive—Flying Wild Hog announces cyberpunk FPS Hard Reset

We like being the first to tell you about a game.

We like being the first to tell you about a game. It's rare, though, that we announce something that's a mere two months away. Flying Wild Hog, a new studio, is releasing its debut game this September. It's called Hard Reset, and it's a PC-exclusive "dark sci-fi" FPS. Roughly, it's Blade Runner, The Matrix, and Painkiller rolled into a single-player-only flour tortilla.

Like some kind of Polish, game-developing Voltron, Flying Wild Hog was formed from members of People Can Fly (Painkiller), CD Projekt RED (The Witcher 2), and City Interactive (Sniper: Ghost Warrior). Read on for more details, the first trailer, and first screenshots.

Pre-emptively asked questions

What's the engine?

Proprietary, impressively enough. It's called "Road Hog." And because a built-from-scratch engine is a serious investment, we'll probably see more games on it from the developer.

What's the plot?

Hostile robot takeover. Only one human city remains--the bastion of Bezoar. It's here that Major Fletcher, your character (the guy with the laser eye patch), takes to arms against the robot hordes.

When, and how much?

September 2011. Pricing isn't announced, though we'd suspect it'll fall somewhere between AAA releases like Battlefield 3 and lighter-weight "downloadable" FPSes.

Do they have a website, Facebook, and Twitter thing I can click on?

Yup, yes, and indeed.

I think this announcement was just pick-me-up we needed to brighten up the moody weather that's circling San Francisco. We'll have a hands-on preview of Hard Reset in our next issue, and an exclusive Q&A with Flying Wild Hog later this week. Full press release, including plot details, follow:

Flying Wild Hog Announces Hard Reset, a Dark Sci-Fi Shooter for PC

Polish Studio Comprised of Painkiller, Bulletstorm and Witcher 2 Vets Announces its Atmospheric and Action-Packed Cyberpunk Debut

Warsaw, Poland – July 13. Flying Wild Hog announced its debut game, the dark sci-fi first-person shooter, Hard Reset. The PC-exclusive title transports players to a haunting, dystopian future, with humanity on the verge of extinction, confined to its last standing city and under constant threat from the robotic hordes that aim to annihilate mankind. Hard Reset is scheduled for release in September 2011.

In the only remaining human city of Bezoar, Major Fletcher, an Army Combat Veteran and soldier of the CLN, is dragged into a conflict between two of mankind's greatest enemies. He is to discover that nothing is what it seems to be.

Hard Reset may be Flying Wild Hog's debut title, but the 35-person studio is comprised of veterans of Warsaw's bustling development scene, with past experience at such renowned developers as People Can Fly, CD Projekt RED and City Interactive, where they worked on acclaimed games like Bulletstorm, Painkiller, The Witcher 2, Sniper and more. Hard Reset is built upon the studio's own Road Hog technology, which delivers stunning visuals that bring the game's incredible atmosphere to life.

Given the game's rapidly approaching release date, expect much more information and footage of Hard Reset in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, visit http://hardresetgame.comand follow the game's progress on Twitter and Facebook.