Josef Fares, director of 2021’s critically acclaimed platformer It Takes Two, has posted an image online teasing his next project. Though no details about Hazelight Studios' next game have been announced so far, fans are already speculating about what the mysterious title may be.Already an established film director before making his debut in the video game industry, Josef Fares is the director behind the well-received games Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, A Way Out, and It Takes Two. All three titles were praised upon release for their emotionally powerful narratives and are notable for their unique gameplay mechanics. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons had gamers take control of two characters simultaneously using a single controller to solve platforming puzzles, whereas A Way Out and It Takes Two were co-op only experiences that required gamers to play through the titles with a partner.In a post on his personal Twitter account, Fares linked a photo of two women in what appear to be motion capture suits along with the caption “Sneak peek of the next game.” Motion capture has become common in the video game industry in recent years, being used for everything from in-game cutscenes to helping ensure Street Fighter 6’s breakdancing looks authentic, so this sort of setup wouldn’t be out of place for many modern titles. What makes the picture in Fares’ tweet so intriguing, though, is that the two performers are also wearing full facial capture setups.
These sorts of facial capture rigs may already be familiar to moviegoers, having gained prominence after they were used to create stunningly lifelike performances for the computer-animated characters in James Cameron’s Avatar and the upcoming sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, but they are increasingly being used to bring those same sorts of realistic performances to games. For a director like Fares, whose previous titles featured storylines that were more thoughtful and emotional than those found in most video games, this technology could allow him to create characters capable of delivering far more feeling and nuance in their performances. In response to the photo of the two performers, some fans in the replies were already expressing their hope that this meant a sequel to the emotionally resonant Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.
As the gaming industry continues to mature, there has been an increasing call from some gamers for stories with more emotional depth, with the highly anticipated HBO series based on Naughty Dog's The Last of Us proving that games can provide some genuinely great stories with broad appeal far beyond the console crowd. Pairing Fares' proven storytelling ability with the latest in performance capture technology has the potential to lead to great things, and fans of his previous work will likely be waiting anxiously to see what exactly this mystery game ends up being.
Source: Josef Fares/Twitter