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Mercury Steam working on two new games (codenames: Aleph and NAKED)

kulapik

Member
Spanish developer Mercury Steam, creator with Konami of the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow series, which second part released last february, is now working in at least two new project, as appears on the proposal list of provisional resolution of financial aid to videogames of the Ministerio de Industria, Energía y Turismo.

The resolution, published at the end of this week, names the provisional list of aids given to Spanish videogame companies, indicating Mercury Steam will receive according to forecasts financial aid for two new projects, one called Aleph, defined as a "multigenre videogame for new platforms", and other named as NAKED. Both are codenames.

http://www.meristation.com/pc/noticias/mercury-steam-tiene-dos-proyectos-en-desarrollo/58/2009711

More disclosure:

-Mercury Steam will receive (if the proposals are accepted) a 466.018,02€ grant and a 4.194.162,18€ lease for Aleph, while for NAKED it will be a 362.658,22€ grant and a 3.263.923,98€ lease.

-Also, Tequila Works is also on proposal for a 75.688,05€ grant and a 681.192,45€ lease, presumably for Rime.

-And as a extra tidbit, a new game of the popular strategy franchise Commandos is being developed by Pyro Studios, with a 94.887,17€ grant and a 853.984,53€ lease. It's defined as a "experimental development project to create a next-gen Commandos with AAA quality". But:

commandos-pyro-mobile.jpg

Full list here: http://www.minetur.gob.es/PortalAyu...nts/Listado_PropuestaProvisionalConcesion.pdf
 
Looking up Aleph here is what wikipedia says:

The name aleph is derived from the West Semitic word for "ox", and the shape of the letter derives from a Proto-Sinaitic glyph that may have been based on a Egyptian hieroglyph which depicts an ox's head.[citation needed]

In Modern Standard Arabic, the word أليف /ʔaliːf/ literally means 'tamed' or 'familiar', derived from the root |ʔ-l-f|, from which the verb ألِف /ʔalifa/ means 'to be acquainted with; to be on intimate terms with'.[2] In modern Hebrew, the same root |ʔ-l-f| (alef-lamed-peh) gives me’ulaf, the passive participle of the verb le’alef, meaning 'trained' (when referring to pets) or 'tamed' (when referring to wild animals); the IDF rank of Aluf, taken from an Edomite title of nobility, is also cognate.[clarification needed]

You click on Edomite you get this:

Edom (/ˈiː.dʌm/;[1] Hebrew: אֱדוֹם, Modern Edom Tiberian ʼĔḏôm ; "red"; Assyrian: Udumi; Syriac: ܐܕܘܡ) or Idumea (Greek: Ἰδουμαία, Idoumaía; Latin: Idūmaea) was a Semite-inhabited historical region of the Southern Levant located south of Judea and the Dead Sea mostly in the Negev. It is mentioned in biblical records as a 1st millennium BC Iron Age kingdom of Edom,[2] and in classical antiquity the cognate name Idumea was used to refer to a smaller area in the same region. The name Edom means "red" in Hebrew, and was given to Esau, the elder son of the Hebrew patriarch Isaac, once he ate the "red pottage", which the Bible used in irony at the fact he was born "red all over".[3] The Torah, Tanakh and New Testament thus describe the Edomites as descendants of Esau.

Now, I searched "Edom Dracula" on google. Got this:

http://pelgranepress.com/site/?p=7141

Four Generations of EDOM

For years, it has been a legend. Somewhere in the dusty archives of MI6 is the complete version of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula — the unredacted version. The full story revealed clear pointers to the sources and methods the Service used in Operation EDOM, an 1893 mission that sent a bold agent deep into the Balkans to awaken and then terminate a very dangerous asset indeed.

But the termination didn’t take. In 1940, desperate to stop Hitler’s march through Europe, the Service reactivated EDOM, and reanimated their Transylvanian asset. Once more, they found they had bitten off more than they could chew, and in the chaos of wartime Romania they put him to sleep. Or so they thought.

In 1977, MI6 discovered that they weren’t the only players in this game. Their asset had left his own sleepers behind in Moscow and Romania — and in London — and inside MI6. The Service had to reopen EDOM, awaken Dracula again, to find his agents in their own ranks — or so they said.

More Castlevania?
 
After LOS 1 I was so excited to see what the studio could make next
After LOS 2 and mirror of fate I've lost much of my faith in them
 
Please stay the fuck away from Castlevania

The last one was a massive critical and financial flop. A third one is unlikely. It also may kill the franchise for good if it is another flawed game.

A Mercury shooter with the Contra license was rumored for some time, but that was before the LOS2 sales figures surfaced.
 
Developer with a recent product fraught with problems developing their next games with government grants sounds a lot like Silicon Knights.

The last one was a massive critical and financial flop. A third one is unlikely. It also may kill the franchise for good if it is another flawed game.

A Mercury shooter with the Contra license was rumored for some time, but that was before the LOS2 sales figures surfaced.

We might have another reboot five or so years down the line, but yeah, we won't see anything more Castlevania from Mercury Steam probably.
 
Aleph is more likely to be a reference to EL ALEPH by Jorge Luis Borges , a mirror , the center of all things, were everything converges and is reflected
 
Now, I searched "Edom Dracula" on google. Got this:

http://pelgranepress.com/site/?p=7141

Four Generations of EDOM

For years, it has been a legend. Somewhere in the dusty archives of MI6 is the complete version of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula — the unredacted version. The full story revealed clear pointers to the sources and methods the Service used in Operation EDOM, an 1893 mission that sent a bold agent deep into the Balkans to awaken and then terminate a very dangerous asset indeed.

But the termination didn’t take. In 1940, desperate to stop Hitler’s march through Europe, the Service reactivated EDOM, and reanimated their Transylvanian asset. Once more, they found they had bitten off more than they could chew, and in the chaos of wartime Romania they put him to sleep. Or so they thought.

In 1977, MI6 discovered that they weren’t the only players in this game. Their asset had left his own sleepers behind in Moscow and Romania — and in London — and inside MI6. The Service had to reopen EDOM, awaken Dracula again, to find his agents in their own ranks — or so they said.

More Castlevania?
Hmmmm this is very interesting, I'm totally looking forward to the next games MercurySteam is doing, I truly hope it envolves vampires, cause I can't get enough of those.
 
Looking up Aleph here is what wikipedia says:

The name aleph is derived from the West Semitic word for "ox", and the shape of the letter derives from a Proto-Sinaitic glyph that may have been based on a Egyptian hieroglyph which depicts an ox's head.[citation needed]

In Modern Standard Arabic, the word أليف /ʔaliːf/ literally means 'tamed' or 'familiar', derived from the root |ʔ-l-f|, from which the verb ألِف /ʔalifa/ means 'to be acquainted with; to be on intimate terms with'.[2] In modern Hebrew, the same root |ʔ-l-f| (alef-lamed-peh) gives me’ulaf, the passive participle of the verb le’alef, meaning 'trained' (when referring to pets) or 'tamed' (when referring to wild animals); the IDF rank of Aluf, taken from an Edomite title of nobility, is also cognate.[clarification needed]

You click on Edomite you get this:

Edom (/ˈiː.dʌm/;[1] Hebrew: אֱדוֹם, Modern Edom Tiberian ʼĔḏôm ; "red"; Assyrian: Udumi; Syriac: ܐܕܘܡ) or Idumea (Greek: Ἰδουμαία, Idoumaía; Latin: Idūmaea) was a Semite-inhabited historical region of the Southern Levant located south of Judea and the Dead Sea mostly in the Negev. It is mentioned in biblical records as a 1st millennium BC Iron Age kingdom of Edom,[2] and in classical antiquity the cognate name Idumea was used to refer to a smaller area in the same region. The name Edom means "red" in Hebrew, and was given to Esau, the elder son of the Hebrew patriarch Isaac, once he ate the "red pottage", which the Bible used in irony at the fact he was born "red all over".[3] The Torah, Tanakh and New Testament thus describe the Edomites as descendants of Esau.

Now, I searched "Edom Dracula" on google. Got this:

http://pelgranepress.com/site/?p=7141

Four Generations of EDOM

For years, it has been a legend. Somewhere in the dusty archives of MI6 is the complete version of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula — the unredacted version. The full story revealed clear pointers to the sources and methods the Service used in Operation EDOM, an 1893 mission that sent a bold agent deep into the Balkans to awaken and then terminate a very dangerous asset indeed.

But the termination didn’t take. In 1940, desperate to stop Hitler’s march through Europe, the Service reactivated EDOM, and reanimated their Transylvanian asset. Once more, they found they had bitten off more than they could chew, and in the chaos of wartime Romania they put him to sleep. Or so they thought.

In 1977, MI6 discovered that they weren’t the only players in this game. Their asset had left his own sleepers behind in Moscow and Romania — and in London — and inside MI6. The Service had to reopen EDOM, awaken Dracula again, to find his agents in their own ranks — or so they said.

More Castlevania?

I don't pray much, but I'm praying it's not Castlevania. They've already ruined that series big time, so I'd rather not see them obliterate it further.

Aleph is more likely to be a reference to EL ALEPH by Jorge Luis Borges , a mirror , the center of all things, were everything converges and is reflected

While all of this may just be coincidental, a mirror is actually a key plot point for the Lords series. I hope all of this is just a stretch.
 
I never had anything against them as a studio, just didn't want that Castlevania. So this is cool, though we probably won't hear anything substantial about these games until next year.
 
Will be on board only if Kojima is supervising again. Alvarez "brilliant" ideas should stay out from Castlevania. Let Jose Luis Marquez direct the next one if they're making it.
 
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