Possible Silicon Knights project title leaked: Siren in the Maelstrom

by Griffin McElroy { Jul 25th 2009 at 5:30PM }

A Canadian cultural agency known as Telefilm Canada recently posted a list of 56 new media projects it's helping to fund over the next year. One name on this list sticks out more than all the others: St. Catharines, Ontario-based developer Silicon Knights' apparent new project, which is titled "Siren in the Maelstrom." We know the developer is up to something, as hinted at by a few recent help wanted ads -- could this be the something for which it's hiring? We've contacted Silicon Knights to try and find out.

We're pretty upset that the leaked title isn't "Eternal Darkness: Siren in the Maelstrom." On the other hand, it's also not "Too Human: Siren in the Maelstrom," so we guess we should count our blessings.

[Via VG247]

Tags: canada, eternal-darkness, leak, silicon-knights, siren-in-the-maelstrom, telefilm-canada, title, too-human

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Leroy_Octopus @ Jul 25th 2009 5:35PM

How do they have money to make another game?

Mr Khan @ Jul 25th 2009 7:31PM

Microsoft absorbed the blow from the last game, i presume. They must see some value in keeping SK around. And SEGA is apparently bankrolling this project, so they see some merit there, too.

Ghostbuddy @ Jul 25th 2009 5:43PM

Yeah, safe to say its Too Human 2.

Siren is related to mythology, the main theme of Too Humans story is a sci-fi interpertation of Mythology. Maelstrom is a norse word, meaning whirlpool. The main mythology Too Human bases its story on is Norse mythology.

VSpeck @ Jul 25th 2009 5:56PM

The siren is Greek mythology though not Norse. Too Human seemed to be firmly planted in Norse so I'm not too sure about this being a sequel.

devilsei @ Jul 25th 2009 6:14PM

Vspeck, with the way they handled Too Human, I wouldn't be surprised if they were in a meeting and went "Ya know what? Why don't we take two awesome mythos, and combine them?! Norse+Greek must = profit!!!!!"

oOWallaceOo @ Jul 25th 2009 7:23PM

"I Lit Ten Norse Hammers" is an anagram of "Siren in the Maelstrom"

Nook @ Jul 25th 2009 5:45PM

I thought Too Human was to be a trilogy? Something along the lines of the best thing since sliced bread is how I recall the hype building up for that title.

Dr.House (GT:DiGiTAL SiN254) @ Jul 25th 2009 6:51PM

that was before the unreal engine fiasco, 10 years of development, poor ratings, and poop (yes poop) sales to boot.

Dr.House (GT:DiGiTAL SiN254) @ Jul 25th 2009 6:59PM

one more thing:

Keep in mind I tried REALLY hard to like that game. You could literally compare Too Human to a nice Tuna sandwich (or whatever you like) the works basically. You're about the eat said sandwich, but along comes some old naked dude with a cain. He slaps it out of your mount just before you can taste the food. Then he just stands in between you and your sandwich jumping up and down and yelping like dog. Lastly he takes the sandwich, wipes his bum with it and hands it back.

JS Beckerist @ Aug 23rd 2009 4:35PM

I don't understand the Too Human hate. At least since the update the menu's are seamless, the interface is more than functional and the gameplay was infectious. It's one of the only games I haven't ended up selling back because I STILL play the crap out of it. My only complaint lies with the occasional "invisible walls" like in the cyberworld, for instance; though Too Human isn't exclusively holding this gripe either (see: Gears of War or Damnation or any racing game or.......)

STOP THE HATE, it's a great game and just because a few vocal people said otherwise doesn't mean it's true.

Spallit @ Jul 25th 2009 5:56PM

it could also be a codename for the project they are working on, no?

Also, since I enjoyed both eternal darkness and too human, I don't really have to count my blessings. It's a win win scenario for me! :)

MystileArmor @ Jul 25th 2009 6:06PM

I think it's "Too Darkness" or perhaps "Eternal Human". Maybe it's "Fat Orc Megan's Bathwater: The Game" or "The Adventures of Sam Raimi Told Me In A Blog"

The Adventures of Cesaria Across the 8th Dimension! @ Jul 25th 2009 6:18PM

I shall have you know that your memes have entered my vocabulary. Thanks for the LOLs.

Danny @ Jul 25th 2009 6:06PM

Yeah I'm really going to buy a Silicon Knights game after the fiasco that was Too Human.

deaftly @ Jul 25th 2009 9:05PM

It was still a pretty good game in the end. Just got too damn repetitive.

The Adventures of Cesaria Across the 8th Dimension! @ Jul 25th 2009 6:16PM

Here's hoping for a Wii exclusive Eternal Darkness sequel with motion plus and Vitality Sensor (yeah, it'll probably suck, but could be awesome in ED) support, but it'll probably end up being the Too Human sequel. I've never played Too Human, but I can't imagine it being that bad. I'll pick it up on the cheap one of these days.
Game journalists are more often than not influenced by hype, which lends them the term 'enthusiast press.' Nothing else can explain the verbal fellating of such slightly above average titles as Killzone 2 and Gears of War.
Mildly off-topic tirade+positive mention of Vitality Sensor+slight knock on 'top tier' shooters=instant downvote
I await your judgements.

Leroy_Octopus @ Jul 25th 2009 6:42PM

It could be that, you know, they thought those games were good. Call me crazy, but that's why I would have given them good scores. Play the demo of Too Human before you pay for anything related to it. You may see that is in that bad.

naganoodle @ Jul 26th 2009 3:54AM

truth = up vote from me.

Justin @ Jul 25th 2009 6:31PM

Too Human wasn't bad, it had it's faults but it was fun (though I am a loot whore.) I think with the first one they know what's wrong, everyone, media included let them know how they f'd up. should be easy to fix. I did have some fun playing the game. Though the die your way through was a little lame, ok a lot lame. I think they had some good ideas and the sequel could be amazing.

Kevin949 @ Jul 25th 2009 7:00PM

Hey.....I enjoyed Too Human. My buddy did too. We just made fun of the title a lot.

Greggoo @ Jul 26th 2009 11:15AM

JUST ENOUGH HUMAN!

tmacairjordan87 @ Jul 25th 2009 7:05PM

After putting out one of the worst games this gen, these guys deserved to go out like the makers of Lair and Haze did, but life isn't fair...and they get to make another game for some reason.

Moptimus Slime (The Return of Princess Griffin) @ Jul 25th 2009 7:13PM

and that reason is because they also happened to make one of the best games of the previous generation

tmacairjordan87 @ Jul 25th 2009 7:17PM

The slightly above average eternal darkness shouldn't excuse them for the POS that Too Human was. They couldn't even handle UE3, when virtually everyone's using it nowadays. They deserve more than anyone to be shut down.

samik @ Jul 25th 2009 7:19PM

I dont think any studio deserves to be shut down for just one failure. Maybe Too Human 2 will restore their reputation.

Haze was a tragedy because Free Radical was a really good team, and Timesplitters was such a great franchise. I guess Lair and Haze were on a different console, with different standards. Can you imagine, for instance, what would happen if Killzone 2 had 640p graphics or Naughty Dog /Insomniac tried to cash in on the success of Uncharted and Resistance and came out with a half-baked 6-hour expansion with no major graphical upgrades within a year of the first game? They would get absolutely slaughtered

samik @ Jul 25th 2009 7:21PM

"They couldn't even handle UE3"
I agree, that was a bit ridiculous, they were probably the only developer who had problems with UE3, which may not be the best engine around by now but is certainly the most versatile and easy to use

goboColossus (LIVE, PSN - gobopop) @ Jul 26th 2009 4:04AM

Slightly about average my ass... Eternal Darkness was a narrative masterpiece. You don't like that people actually enjoy things, do you?

tmacairjordan87 @ Jul 26th 2009 10:18AM

I just have higher standards than most people. It was a slightly above average game for me, not bad but not something I'm going to remember 10 years from now.

darkbastion @ Jul 25th 2009 7:23PM

Anyone calling Too Human one of the worst games of this gen is a fool, and must not play many games. TH was flawed with some repetition, a glut off me-too collectibles, and some dicey combat. But it had some pretty damn good ideas that built upon a lot of stale adventure conventions. If they could make the upgrades more meaningful, the combat better, and bring the full 4-player co-op to bear, this would be a really awesome game that would give Diablo a run for its money.

I, too, am curious how they have money to make another one, though. Unless they got some serious bank way back when for the Blood Omen license. I mean, I truly loved ED and replayed it a few times, but it couldn't have sold well enough to finance the full extent of TH's decade-long development. Maybe their Twin Snakes remake brought in some bank, but still, how are they keeping the lights on over there?

Nook @ Jul 25th 2009 8:21PM

go read the post about the new hire positions, also Ontario pays money to companies like this I believe. they have other 'income' besides game sales.

freaparn @ Jul 25th 2009 8:33PM

To be fair, it was a pretty unpleasant game. Maybe not the worst of this generation, but definitely qualifying as "awful" insofar as play experiences go. That wouldn't even bear belabouring at this point in time if Denis Dyack hadn't ridden the hype train off a cliff into Blame Everything On Someone Else canyon.

Hooligunn @ Jul 26th 2009 9:01AM

I agree with you - I absolutely loved it. I played it enough out of pure enjoyment to get all 1000 achievement points out of the game.

Tbf, anyone who doesn't like that type of game wouldn't like it even if it had been perfect. I really hope this is a sequel, as I thoroughly enjoyed all parts of Too Human. Could it have been better? Definetely. But anyone who says it's awful or the worst game of this generation is just jumping on the bandwagon of hating it for no apparent reason.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to claim it's perfect in any way, but it was a good entry in the genre.

JD @ Aug 3rd 2009 3:30PM

Too Human is easily one of my top 3 games from this generation. Sure, it had a few issues as you pointed out, but it had some really unique ideas and great gameplay mechanics. The problem is not many people gave the game enough of a chance to find that out.

In fact, when the demo was released, I almost tossed the game aside as well. I think it was the controls that were the biggest obstacle. However, if you take the time to figure out exactly how the controls work, the game becomes excellent. I am so glad I went back to that demo after my initial try. I've easily put 200 hours into the game and have been thinking lately of going back.