In a recent discussion with Game Informer, BioWare’s creative director Mike Laidlaw suggested that it’s still very possible the studio will revisit its 2005 martial arts RPG, Jade Empire.
Many gamers have clamoured for a sequel over the years, and BioWare have attempted to make a new Jade Empire game before, with a small team reportedly working on ways to improve the combat and discover a new direction in which to take the proposed sequel. Unfortunately, that particular project was eventually shut down to better focus resources on the games that would eventually become the Dragon Age and Mass Effect franchises.
BioWare GM Aaryn Flynn had this to say to Game Informer about a possible Jade Empire sequel:
“There are a lot of people still at the studio who worked on that game and want to get back to it. I think one of the advantages to getting back to it after a long time is not only nostalgia is a very powerful feeling in people, but skipping a generation of hardware is actually really exciting because it feels like it’s not an evolution. It’s a revolution of what you can do, and I think that’s the kind of thing that brings people. What if we were to revolutionize Jade Empire and brought it back in that regard? That’s the kind of talk that still happens around the studio.”
There are remarkably few games utilising the kind of flowing and graceful martial arts combat that Jade Empire employed, and the game’s setting was filled with vastly interesting characters and concepts. It’s a world that begs to be reopened to explore again.
Would you be interested in playing a new Jade Empire game? What kind of features or elements would you want to see? Share your thoughts with us!
