Tomb Raider creator Toby Gard and a team of veterans from the Call of Duty and Spec Ops franchises have founded a new studio, The Tangentleman, reports GamesIndustry.
The studio will see Creative director duties shared by Toby Gard, who designed the first Tomb Raider and Cory Davis, who previously worked at TimeGate Studios and Monolith before taking on the role of creative director and lead designer of Spec Ops: The Line.
Ex-infinity Ward and Respawn Entertainment dev, Rich Smith will serve as the studio’s art director, while the general manager position and head of production spot will be filled by John Garcia-Shelton, who previously worked on both the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty franchises.
The team was actually put together previously to develop Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, before choosing to form the independent new studio.
“The rocketing costs of AAA development led to a creative stagnation in games until the recent explosion of the indie scene,” Gard said in a statement.
“We have formed Tangentlemen to take some creative risks and trust our belief that there is an audience who want fun experiences that don’t fall comfortably inside predefined marketing boxes.”
“Our solutions are not what you’d expect,” added Davis.
“They’re often weird, or even absurd, with strong gestures that challenge the status quo. Our games are extreme in their thematic, narrative, and mechanical design. I seriously can’t wait to tell you exactly what we’re up to right now.”
The studio’s first project – Daedalus – is currently in its concept phase. The game is describe by the studio as an, “existential, surreal horror trip.”
