THQ Nordic’s Acquisitions: Five IPs I’d love them to buy

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THQ Nordic are currently in the process of buying up any videogame IP that isn’t nailed to the ground. They currently have a strong library of games with several incredible upcoming titles. For an overview of them all, head here. I played several at Gamescom and seen footage of the rest. Biomutant played wonderfully, Darksiders III is intense, Generation Zero is exciting and Fade to Silence is set to be uniquely special.  THQ Nordic’s current mission is to do more than simply possess IPs. They want to give them the love and attention they deserve. That’s why fans got so excited when news broke that the publisher had acquired action RPG Kingdoms of Amalur. I loved that game on PS3 and can’t wait for the series to return. Today brings news of two acquisitions from Atari. The first is Act of War, a real time strategy game with a story from the mind of New York Times best selling author Dale Brown. The second is an incredibly excited one for me personally, Alone in the Dark. A survival horror series that’s most recent entry was on PS3/Xbox 360 and the Wii. It was really underrated, genuinely atmospheric and intense. I can’t wait to see what can be done with the series, especially with THQ currently dabbling in survival horror thanks to Fade to Silence.

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Here’s five other dormant IPs that I’d love to see THQ Nordic pick up:

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Hogs of War

Yes I’m talking about Hogs of War again. The real time strategy genre is currently having a mini renaissance alongside turn based combat. This is thanks to the booming popularity of series like Valkyria Chronicles and other titles such as Mario x Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. I don’t have any idea who owns the IP but previous developers Infogrames eventually became Sumo Digital. Hogs of War was a wonderfully silly and fun title that would have a place in today’s AA gaming market.

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Dino Crisis

No one else is going to bring it back anytime soon. In the first entry I spoke about a genre making a comeback in the modern era. This time it’s something else making a comeback. Dinosaurs. Jurassic Park has become Jurassic World and thanks to Chris Pratt’s face and the genuinely fantastic scripting the cretaceous creatures are all the rage again. Now Shinji Mikami’s genius was part of what made the first games so special but a true return to form would be entirely possible. The multiple character narrative style would even play into a Telltale style game divided into downloadable chapters.

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Monkey Island

Honestly give me anything Monkey Island. An old school point and click game? Perfect. Text adventured starring Guybrush Threepwood? Deal. Episodic narrative point and click? Yup. AAA third person action adventure open world pirate story? God yes please with a cherry on top. Ron Gilbert and Lucasarts captured a magical ship in a bottle with this series. Insult sword fighting is one of my favorite video game moments of all time Who honestly doesn’t love pirates? Anyone who played Sea of Thieves probably.

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Earthworm Jim

Let’s touch on another two genres that are totally booming at the moment. The first is the 2D platformer. Looking at the legendary Shovel Knight, the beautiful Celeste, then other magnificent titles like The Messenger or Steamworld Dig 2. Even Megaman is currently coming back with a brand new title. The second genre? 3D platformer. Thanks to Super Mario Odyssey and indie titles like Yooka Laylee and A Hat in Time the genre has recovered from the overloading of garbage it suffered from in the early 2000s. Earthworm Jim 3 was part of that issue. The series did not transition well. However with love and care and the camera controls dual analogs offer a comeback could right the wrongs of the past. Or it could be 2D and give fans a taste of the long lost classic gameplay.

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Turok

More dinosaurs. Different possibilities though. Look at the mega success of PlayStation’s Horizon Zero Dawn. Robot dinos sell. Propaganda games tried it in the 360 generation unsuccessfully. Now THQ could be the people to step up to the plate. It could be a survival horror, a true story of man against nature. You could progressively build your character up, go from having trouble with the smallest creatures to gunning down the largest with ease. The scope is endless with current generation technology. Just look at the jungles in Uncharted: Lost Legacy for an idea of what’s possible. The stunning greenery in Biomutant would offer a starting point.

And plenty more…