At Gamescom 2022, former Fallout developer Jeff Gardiner announced his new studio, Something Wicked Games.
The new developer’s debut title will be Wyrdsong, an “occult fantasy RPG” set in a fictional version of Middle Age Portugal. The game is currently in pre-Alpha, and developed using Unreal Engine 5.
Gardiner worked at Bethesda for 16 years, serving as a project lead for the shared world Fallout 76. Before that, he would serve as a producer on expansions for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion followed by Fallout 3 and Fallout 4. He departed the company in late 2021 to found Something Wicked with Charles Staples and Ekram Rashid, and serve as its CEO.
In a press release, Gardiner described Wyrdsong as “my dream game for some time now […] Our goal with Something Wicked Games is to utilize our independence and creative autonomy to create the next evolution of open world RPGs.”
Something Wicked’s current 12-person staff includes co-founder and design director Charles Staples. Staples worked at Obsidian Entertainment for 15 years, serving as a design director on 2018’s The Outer Worlds.