First we heard tell of a possible Alien Isolation 2. Then, the bizarre rumour that Grasshopper Manufacture, the studio behind No More Heroes, Lollipop Chainsaw, and Killer 7 would be working on a separate and totally brand-new game in the Alien series. Now, the Killer is Dead and horror game developer confirms that it is certainly working on something – we just don’t know precisely what.
As a bit of a recap, in November 2022 various rumours hit the internet (as rumours like to do) regarding the development of a sequel to Alien Isolation, and a separate game in the Alien franchise being developed by Grasshopper. It sounded outlandish – known for its distinctive style and auteur-driven, genre-bending pseudo anime games, the idea of Grasshopper picking up a big movie licence was, maybe, just maybe, strange enough to be true.
But to quote Jonathan Frakes from ‘Beyond Belief,’ “nope, not this time.” Grasshopper CEO Goichi ‘Suda 51’ Suda soon published a tweet, containing a link to the Alien rumour accompanied by a series of question marks.
The Grasshopper Alien game seemed comprehensively dismissed as fiction. Likewise, we haven’t heard anything more about an Alien Isolation 2. Nevertheless, a new post on Grasshopper’s website, which contains an ominous message and a countdown clock, signals that the developer is almost certainly working on something.
“Something’s gonna happen,” the Grasshopper homepage says with a countdown which, as of this writing, reads “70 days, 19 hours, 3 minutes.” That means the countdown will end on June 9.
A little detective work tells us that this year’s Summer Games Fest kicks off June 8 – though we still don’t know for certain which developers will feature as part of this year’s event, it seems possible that Grasshopper, or one of its publishing partners, will use Summer Games Fest for a big announcement.
So what could it be? The Lollipop Chainsaw remake is billed for a 2023 release, but although the original game was developed by Grasshopper, the remake is under care of Dragami Games, without the involvement of either Suda or writer James Gunn.
Total conjecture, but in February, Resident Evil and The Evil Within creator Shinji Mikami left the company he founded, Tango Gameworks, with no confirmation regarding his next project.
In the past, Mikami collaborated with Grasshopper and Goichi Suda on Killer 7 – indeed, Resident Evil 4’s Killer 7 magnum is named in honour of Grasshopper’s game, and the RE4 regenerator enemy is modelled on Killer 7’s Heaven Smiles. Maybe, just maybe, a new collab is in the works. We’ll keep an eye out and bring you the latest.
In the meantime, with 2023 hotting up, check out some of the other best upcoming games. You might also want to try some of the best new games that have already graced PC this year.