David Goldfarb says going open world “fucked” ‘Darkborn’

Darkborn lead David Goldfarb has shared that the cancelled first-person Viking game was “fucked” due to it becoming open world.

Speaking to NME, Goldfarb said that Darkborn – which was cancelled by The Outsiders in 2020 – suffered some major issues in the development cycle, including a big change to the game’s structure.

“It didn’t start as an open world game,” shared Goldfarb. “It became one, and that’s why we got fucked. If we had done it another way, maybe we would have been okay.”

Goldfarb added that Darkborn was cancelled due to publisher Take Two deciding to part with The Outsiders, which “couldn’t get anyone to pay what it would have cost to continue, because of a lot of complicated legality around IP ownership and the publishing rights to the game.”

“A lot of people think we made this decision to abandon that project. That’s not true, okay. We really wanted to make that game,” added Goldfarb.

Beyond publishing issues, Goldfarb said the team “never really cracked” first-person melee combat, and described it as “probably the hardest thing in the industry.”

When The Outsiders announced Darkborn‘s cancellation, it said that it was “working on something else”. This turned out to be Goldfarb’s next game, Metal: Hellsinger, which was announced two months after Darkborn was cancelled.

Metal: Hellsinger is a rhythm-based shooter that tasks players with killing demons to the beat of metal, with a soundtrack that features the likes of Trivium‘s Matt Heafy, System of a Down‘s Serj Tankian, and more.

NME recently got to preview Metal: Hellsinger, and said “riddling wretches to ribbons has never felt more mosh-worthy.”

In other gaming news, Twitch streamer Clara ‘Keffals’ Sorrenti has been swatted as part of a long-running campaign of transphobic harassment against her.