“Good s**t is happening this year”: After A Way Out’s Massive Milestone, Hazelight’s Founder Teases Something Mysterious With Geoff Keighley
A collaboration between Josef Fares' Hazelight and Geoff Keighley? Color us intrigued!
2024 is shaping up to be a great year for Swedish studio Hazelight with its cooperative action-adventure title A Way Out crossing the 9-million mark in sales. Released way back in 2018, A Way Out flipped the script on the traditional multiplayer formula in gaming, garnering critical and commercial success in the process.
And it seems like Josef Fares, the man behind Hazelight is all set for another great release in the coming months, a project that is likely to include popular video game journalist and presenter Geoff Keighley in some capacity.
A Way Out’s Unique Take on Cooperative Play
Released in collaboration with Electronic Arts and running on Unreal Engine 4, A Way Out presented its players with a split-screen experience that required cooperation with another player to progress a compelling narrative.
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Following in the steps of two convicts Vincent and Leo (played by Josef’s brother Fares Fares), the game was an intense, action-packed ride filled with poignant moments of friendship being tainted by betrayal that kept players on the edge of their seats. It’s no surprise that the game has achieved such a milestone in sales considering Fares’ emotional investment in the project and the manner in which that influenced the final product.
Hazelight’s and Keighley’s Mysterious New Project
It seems that Hazelight – and Lares, by extension – are not content to rest on their laurels, with the latter announcing a potential new project via a tweet which you can check out below.
While details on Geoff Keighley’s role in this project are scarce, his long and illustrious career in the gaming industry spells good news for Hazelight as he brings many years of experience with the best of gaming to the table.
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Beginning his career in the industry with GameSlice in 1996, Keighley has pioneered several gaming-focused TV shows and award ceremonies, with a long-standing presence at the annual game award show E3 before moving on to launch the Summer Game Fest in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He has also appeared in popular titles like Death Stranding and Among Us alongside a cameo appearance as a game show presenter in The Matrix: Resurrections.
His involvement with Hazelight’s new project has fans of the studio’s work very excited indeed.
Others’ reactions to the announcement showcase just how much faith players have in these two stalwarts of the industry.
While it remains to be seen if Hazelight’s new project will continue in the same vain as A Way Out or if the studio is going to take on an entirely new venture, it’s clear that this year is going to be unforgettable for Fares as well as his fans.
