PS4 Shooter Human Element on Hiatus as Robotoki Winds Down

It's been almost three years since we penned our first article on Robert Bowling's independent venture Robotoki, but fresh from revealing its console debut at The Game Awards last month, the studio has now officially closed up shop. The former Call of Duty creative strategist told Polygon that the company's PlayStation 4 first-person shooter, Human Element, is consequently on hiatus.

"We were actively negotiating a new publishing deal for the premium version of Human Element," he said via email, "but unfortunately I was unable to continue to self-fund development until a deal was finalised." Considering that the release's big coming out trailer was a CG affair, it doesn't seem like the game was particularly far along in the first place.

When the title was originally announced, it was a survival horror game similar to The Last of Us, but the developer clearly changed direction during production, as the outing's most recent video had a Borderlands-esque cel-shaded look to it. The organisation was planning an Ouya prequel of sorts at first, but that also got canned.