At last year’s E3, Microsoft announced that it had bought four independent studios in an effort to step up its first-party development. One of those studios was Ninja Theory, the developer behind Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and DmC: Devil May Cry. Since then, we haven’t heard much about what the studio is working on. A Friday morning leak, however, suggests that we’re about to find out what their next game is: a four-vs.-four online multiplayer action game called Bleeding Edge.
The trailer, which appears to be cam footage of a pre-show cut and is watermarked “confidential,” was shared on Twitter by user @Nibellion. The trailer offers brief glimpses at gameplay and showcases a roster of characters with big personalities and names like Daemon and Buttercup, done in an art style very much in line with DmC. Which makes sense, since it’s advertised as featuring the work of DmC combat director Rahni Tucker.
Bleeding Edge, if that’s actually the game’s final name, would be a bit of a departure for Ninja Theory, which has exclusively focused on single-player games thus far. It does, however, seem in keeping with the compelling, brassy action the studio has done in the past, and hopefully that translates well to the online experience. The trailer says a technical alpha will come on June 27, but for the time being, it looks like we’ll have to wait for the game to show up during E3.
Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.