Epic Games Reveals Upcoming, Untitled IP

With the Gears of War franchise officially handed off to Microsoft Studios, Epic Games is attempting to get its name back on the market with a new franchise.

Polygon reported that Epic Games Lead Animator, Jay Hosfelt, has provided in-game models and concept art during this week's Game Developers Conference for an animation prototype panel. Hosfelt mentioned that Epic Games has redesigned its philosophies as it went into this new game's development without an official publisher. The models and concept art revealed during this panel looked very much like the unknown protagonist of Epic's "Samaritan" technical demonstration video was was unveiled during the 2011 GDC.

The "Samaritan" demo of 2011 was meant to show the heights that were possible using Epic's Unreal Engine 3, but little has been seen of this demo after Epic released the more powerful Unreal Engine 4 in 2012. In the attached picture (seen below), the character on the left is from the "Samaritan" 2011 demo footage, while the the other two pictures were recently taken from Hosfelt's panel. During the panel, the character was presented as part of a new IP that hasn't been officially announced. As most can see, both characters are quite similar in terms of their both of their outfits, weapons and multi-headed transformations.

Unfortunately, Paul Meegan, Epic Games' Vice President of Product Development, has confirmed on his Twitter that this upcoming, unannounced title is completely brand new and bears no connections to the previously-aired "Samaritan" footage. As of yet, there's no word on what, when or where this new IP will show its face again. Perhaps more will be divulged as GDC 2014 continues.