Evolve Dev Turtle Rock Working On New "Dark Fantasy" FPS, Published By Perfect World

Evolve Stage 2 may have had a rocky road after going free-to-play, but that hasn't soured Turtle Rock Studios on the payment model. Today, the developer announced that it was in the process of creating a new free-to-play first-person shooter title, with publishing help provided by Perfect World Entertainment.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Turtle Rock Co-Founder Phil Robb called the upcoming title a new IP that promises "heart-pounding moment-to-moment online co-op FPS action." Turtle Rock President Steve Goldstein also gave glowing reviews of the free-to-play model, calling it "a direct line toward taking the game that we wanted to play when we first started working on it and ensuring that it will be a game that our community wants to play for years to come."

There are few concrete details about the game itself, which isn't expected to be playable until at least 2018. Breaking with several recent traditions in gaming, it won't feature zombies or a post-apocalyptic setting -- like Turtle Rock's popular Left 4 Dead games -- opting instead for something with a "strong dark fantasy element." VR also isn't an immediate priority for the new title, though it could be added post-launch. Neither are e-sports, though Goldstein said the game would still be "fun to watch."

So, what do you guys think? And before you go "Sounds neat, but Perfect World, ew," Gigantic seems to be doing OK, right?