Bungie’s co-founder is making a Marathon rival in Roblox
Bungie‘s co-founder, Alexander Seropian, is developing an extraction shooter for Roblox. No, really, that’s a proper, factual sentence that’s going through your head right now. Coming from his studio, Look North World, its roster includes a bevy of talent that previously worked at Epic Games, Electronic Arts, Disney, and yes, Bungie. It’s called Drifters, and it’s far from a cluster of blocks so far.
You might have missed the initial announcement about it, as it was buried in a recent blog post highlighting upcoming Roblox games. Drifters is set within a “dangerous world full of hostile enemies and even-more-hostile players. Those brave enough to venture into the lawless zones must try to secure loot to upgrade their character, balancing reward with ever-present risk.”
Speaking about the new Roblox project, Alexander Seropian says, “I spent my career trying to zig while others have zagged, always looking for new opportunities to learn and grow as a game developer, and my journey on Roblox so far has been the most exciting and personally rewarding since my early days making games on the PC.” There isn’t much to learn about Drifter’s lore or gameplay just yet, but there is an initial glimpse of its art direction to look at below.
At a glance, it reminds me of the colorful, upbeat aesthetic that the ill-fated shooter Hyenas went in for. The cancelled shooter was one of the coolest games I’ve tried at Gamescom, and it’s a shame it never got the chance to release. It’s also a stark contrast from Bungie’s own extraction shooter, Marathon. Whereas the latter roots itself in sci-fi weirdness and no-nonsense encounters with cyborgs, Drifters seems to be leaving any interstellar aspects at the door.
Seropian adds that “there’s just such an energy around the audience growth, tools, and opportunities on this brand-new (to me) platform, and I think it represents a really important part of Interactive’s future. We’ve decided to build our game here on Roblox to reach this new gaming audience. And we’ve been pleasantly surprised by the quality and depth of the tools and energy that support our craft of making the best games we can.”
Off the back of exciting projects like TTK Testing, it proves that Roblox is more than just farming sims and brainrot content. I’m eager to see how Drifters shapes up. In the meantime, grab yourself some Roblox codes before you boot up your next adventure.
