Riddick: Out Of The Dark

When we entered Starbreeze’s San Francisco hotel room, we were like eager online daters finally meeting in person for the first time. We knew a lot about each other — we’ve flirted quasi-anonymously for years — but were only just now coming face-to-face. Yeah, we were a little nervous; would they live up to our expectations? They were no doubt wondering the same thing about us.

It turns out they were just as excited to see us as we were to see them. After being announced nearly two years ago, the Riddick remake went as dark as a cell in Butcher Bay. Rumors persisted. Was it canceled? No — it was being retooled with a full new campaign bolted onto it, along with a multiplayer mode. We were relieved and began courting them once more. But then they stopped calling us back again.

It turns out it wasn’t anything we did, or even anything they did. It was actually their parents who were the problem. Caught up in the Activision-Vivendi merger, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (the project’s new name) was left out in the cold, the locks to its house changed by its parents. The game wouldn’t be published by the new entity and was left homeless.

Atari took in Starbreeze’s baby, however, and our rendezvous was set. With the team as eager to show off Riddick as we were to see it, we got both the first hands-on and the only multiplayer details (see sidebar on page 63). So you could, in fact, say that we and Riddick are now exclusive.

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