cjmelendez_
Just Add Monsters — a publication run by former Rely on Horror writer Jordan Black — today published a 40-minute video feature on Monolith Productions’ Condemned series. The feature includes interviews with several former developers of both Condemned: Criminal Origins and its controversial sequel Condemned 2: Bloodshot, exploring the conception of both game, scrapped ideas, and even what members of the team had planned for future installments.
The gritty and violent Condemned series started with the first entry as an Xbox 360 launch title, marrying first-person exploration, detective mechanics, and melee combat. Condemned: Criminal Origins offered players plentiful servings of horror and violence as it tasked them with catching a serial killer. Players had to rummage through the dark underbelly of Metro city as Ethan Thomas, a crime scene investigator with the FBI. Its sequel, Bloodshot, received mixed reception from fans as Ethan’s personality changed significantly and the gameplay was more combat focused. The story of the sequel was even more supernatural and took some odd turns.
Just Add Monster’s feature includes written quotes and video interview clips with key staff behind the two games, such as Frank Rooke (Lead Game Designer), Jonathan Stein (Senior Level Designer), Aaron Giddings (Production Coordinator), and Richard Lico (Animation Lead). Some highlights from the video include never-publicly seen footage of a two-headed baby monster, concepts of Ethan being institutionalized, how the dev team mocapped brutal animations themselves, and how The Silence of the Lambs and The Shining inspired the developers.
If you’re hurting to learn more about the twisted Condemned series, look no further. Maybe it’s time to make some noise about a remaster and sequel, eh?
