Former Borderlands 3 creative Director is working on a "secret" multiplayer shooter in a new studio created by developers tired of "huge budgets and recycled mechanisms".

Paul Sage, former creative director of Elder Scrolls Online and Borderlands 3, is now heading up Ruckus Games. The studio is working on a secret multiplayer game in which players "smash and grab" to fight back against an unknown attack on their hometown in the heartland of America.

Ruckus is composed of former members from Gearbox, Riot Games Blizzard Epic Games and Monolith. Scott Kester was one of them. Ruckus stated that Kester "played an important role in transforming Borderlands pre-release gritty style into the iconic, colourful graphic novel style which came to define the Borderlands series."

The game, which has not yet been given a name, will feature a "large roster of playable character and thousands of unique makeshift weapon combinations", such as a toaster modified to fire sawblades, or a power wash converted into a flamethrower.

Ruckus announced today that players could "take to the streets and destroy whatever they want, find cool weapons and resources, and save NPCs to bring back to their Hometown, a centralized hub, a living one," "Here, you can customize, upgrade, and build over time, allowing you to enhance weapons and abilities for another round of chaos fun."

Sage said, "We want games that people can enjoy right away." "We want games that are physical, joyful, and just a damned good time to share with others," Sage said.

Ruckus stated that it will use "a community-centric process" to get direct feedback from players right from the start. I'm no player, but since they asked, I must say that, based on the little we can see at this point, Redfall, Arkane’s sent-out to die vampire shooter, sure looks and sounds like it. The studio has also announced that it has secured $19 million of funding. It noted that "investors have been sold on Ruckus’ premiere project after only playing 20 minutes of its horizontal slice demo." This reminds me of Sony's purchase in 2023 for Firewalk Studios, which didn't end well.

It's too early to judge, as the game hasn't even been given a name, let alone any gameplay. Ruckus' announcement states that the studio was founded by seven developers who saw an industry willing and able to take on risks with huge budgets and recycled gameplay mechanics, but unwilling to do so with new gameplay and experiences. That is a bold and big statement, but it could be true. There could be something really new and interesting happening there. I hope so.

Ruckus invites those interested to sign up at ruckusgames.com for updates and invitations to playtest.