Call of Juarez probably isn’t the first franchise that springs to mind when you think of first-person shooters, but this author has fond memories of Techland’s gunslingin’ series.
The 2009 sequel Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood was a truly underrated Western escapade on the PS3, and its smaller scale 2013 reboot Call of Juarez: Gunslinger was even better. (We don’t talk about the modern day spin-off Call of Juarez: The Cartel, although even that wasn’t as bad as its legacy would lead you to believe.)
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Of course it’s been 12 long years since Gunslinger made unreliable narrators a gameplay mechanic, and we’ve barely heard a peep from the property since.
We know developer Techland acquired the rights to the franchise from Ubisoft, and it released a short message to celebrate the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 back in 2018, but that’s been about it.
However, Insider Gaming’s relatively reliable Tom Henderson reports that a new instalment is in the works right now, leveraging Unreal Engine 5.
According to the site, the game has been in development for quite some time, although it doesn’t mention a release date timeline or when we can expect the project to be announced.
Techland, understandably, is not commenting on the speculation.
“Our primary focus right now is to release Dying Light: The Beast,” a spokesperson said. “After the launch of Dying Light: The Beast, we will share more about future titles in due time.”
The standalone Dying Light 2 expansion is due out on 21st August, so it’s possible we could learn more about Techland’s future plans later this year, after the zombie slayer has launched.
It’s not been the best few weeks for the Polish studio, as it cancelled two projects last week, with one believed to be a sci-fi RPG that had been in production for a while.
It sounds like, assuming Insider Gaming’s report is accurate, it’ll be focusing on Call of Juarez next. It’ll be interesting to see which direction the developer goes with this project, and whether it continues the more grounded storyline of Bound in Blood or goes for something a little more experimental like Gunslinger.
Either way, we’re excited to see what it’s got in store.