Ukranian developer 4A Games has a new name and the game to go along with it. As of today, the Metro developer is now Reburn, and its “inaugural” project is the sci-fi shooter La Quimera.
In an announcement to press, CEO Dmytro Lymar explained the name change was to avoid confusion with the Maltese team that shared the original name and is similarly owned by Embracer. The studio moved its headquarters to Malta in 2014 during the Russo-Ukranian war.
Lymar also felt it was apt to leave the original 4A name with the Metro series following its last mainline entry, 2019’s Metro: Exodus. “For the new IP, we would create a new brand,” he said. “The name [‘Reburn’] means ‘burning again,’ but for us it has the meaning similar to rebirth or reincarnation in a new form, for the creation of a new game with own IP.”
La Quimera is an original property for the studio—its second after the Oculus Rift title Arktika.1—and is currently only slated for a Steam release. In a departure from its previous work, the game will be playable in single-player and three-player co-op. Lead designer Kostiuk Oleksandr told Polygon the game’s technology “allows us to seamlessly integrate new gameplay elements,” and its sci-fi setting would provide a change of pace for long-time developers at Reburn.
“We’ve long wanted to create an adventure that players could experience both solo and with friends,” he said. “We also wanted to step away from the post-apocalyptic themes of the post-Soviet setting. Some team members have been working in that space for nearly 15 years—or even longer, dating back to the original STALKER.”
The studio formerly known as…
Several developers have rebranded in recent months, and it’s typically marked some kind of paradigm shift. Halo Studios‘ name change included a move away from the series’ Slipspace Engine to Unreal in the hopes of releasing more Halo game projects at a more consistent pace.
When a publisher changes its name, it’s often to meant to reflect its growing business or aspirations to become a bigger player in the industry.
Sometimes, it’s the game that’s getting the rebrand—and in those changes, it’s often to make clear what it’s about. IO Interactive’s Hitman: World of Assassination makes more sense than Hitman III since it encompasses the full reboot trilogy and subsequent DLC in one unified package, after all.
