L.A. Noire developer Team Bondi have all but confirmed that Whore of the Orient, the Shanghai crime caper first unveiled in 2012, is no more.
Upon appearing on a recent Gamehugs podcast, Producer Derek Proud conceded that it’s unlikely the period drama will ever see the light of day.
First up, Proud outlines what could have been:
“Well Whore of the Orient was the spiritual successor to L.A. Noire. We were going to use that tech and we were going to create a game set in the 1930s, maybe 1940s, of Shanghai. Shanghai was the only place in the world you could go to in the 1930s and 1940s if you didn’t have a passport. So everybody who was running from something went to Shanghai. The whole city was run by a gangster called Big-Eared Du and it’s just the most fascinating time, place and setting.
“And we were creating a game with all of that rich texture to it. And we fought for it. Brendan [McNamara – studio head], Alex Carlyle [design lead], Vicky Lord [general manager] and Naresh Hirani [project producer] all fought to keep that project alive. And I fought, too, it was something we were all passionate about. But in the end, that was the way it went.”
At this point, the Producer was quizzed on whether we’ll ever see Whore of the Orient, possibly via another studio. Said he: “I don’t think so. That was one of the games and one of the studios I kind of left right at the bitter end. When we got wrapped-up.”
What do our readers think of Whore of the Orient?
[Source: Gameshug podcast via Eurogamer]
