Gaming: Ignition Releases El Shaddai July 26th

Next Tuesday marks a big day for Ignition Studios. Once El Shaddai: The Ascension of the Metatron hits the shelves, there will be no more internally developed games from the beloved studio. This isn't to say that they won't be putting out games, in fact they have two from smaller studios (Vanillaware's Dragon's Crown, and Denki's word game Quarrel), but rather that they will be shifting from development to producing. Ignition was best known for making games like Fractured Soul (currently being ported to the 3DS) and the scary/hilarious and Twin Peaks-inspired, Deadly Premonition. Both very unique games that had the distinct effect of polarizing audiences in a way that most games safely avoid. No matter how you feel about their previous creative outbursts, El Shaddai, certainly looks to be their strongest by far and comes right at their developmental death (going out on a high note, as they say).

This is no real surprise, though certainly sad news, as Ignition closed their Florida location almost a year ago and just recently let go of 15 employees from their Austin spot. The company seems to be having a hard time managing their talent and has had the most success with their development team in Tokyo in only the two years it has been open (big surprise). This Tokyo team is the one responsible for El Shaddai, and it is their work for Capcom and Clover studios that probably explains the real beauty and originality of the game.

The Japanese team takes the loose mythology of angels in the book of Enoch and creates one of the most artistically sparse and interesting game settings in recent memory (think Okami meets Devil May Cry meets acid). So far it seems the game looks eerie and gorgeous, plays simply(there is one attack button), tells a coherent Japanese written story, uses organic interfaces(no bulky menus or health bars) and the only thing keeping it from commercial sucess are probably all the things just listed. Here it is in action. The game drops Tuesday for Xbox 360 and Playstation3. Look for it and cherish it.