download.jpg

A job listing for Crysis developer Crytek notes the company's Frankfurt, Germany-based team is currently working on an unannounced, first-person shooter sandbox project. Unmistakably, 2020 marked quite the busy year for Crytek. The early part of the year saw the developer finally release its online shooter Hunt: Showdown for the PlayStation 4. In the back half of 2020, the much-coveted, but very disappointing, Crysis Remastered launched on PC and consoles.

What the team has in store for 2021 remains to be seen. While it appears much of the focus may be on a new project, many a fan still hope Crysis Remastered will continue to receive updates. Despite a few neat bells and whistles, such as ray-tracing on Xbox One X, the remaster launched in a sorry state, riddled with bugs and debilitating frame rate hitches. Unfortunately, Crytek has yet to confirm whether it plans to produce a next-gen update for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

While Crysis fans patiently await news about potential updates, upgrades, and additional remasters, Crytek's Frankfurt team has its hands full on an "unannounced AAA project." This news comes courtesy of a Crytek "Careers" page (via Wccftech), which boasts a Game Designer job posting. According to the listed job requirements, those who apply should have two or more years of experience as a Game Designer and harbor a "deep passion for gaming, preferably FPS sandbox games." No further details about the mystery title are known at this time.

download (1).jpg

The line about FPS sandbox games could relate to any number of things. Of course, the most obvious option is the possibility that Crytek plans to revisit its flagship IP for a fourth Crysis entry, which franchise faithful were hoping for ahead of the Crysis Remastered reveal. Remasters for Crysis 2 and Crysis 3 don't seem out of the realm of possibility, either. Crytek potentially cultivating the development of a brand-new IP serves as yet another direction the company could go in.

Unfortunately, Crytek's two most recent projects released to mixed reception. More than anything, the Crysis remaster, while visually stunning, floundered due to myriad technical flaws that plagued the performance on both consoles and PC. Meanwhile, Hunt: Showdown, which originally released early in 2019, didn't exactly move the needle. Compelling ideas, a bayou setting, and taxing multiplayer gameplay set quite the bar, but Hunt: Showdown struggled in many respects. Regardless, it'll be interesting to see what Crytek's talents and technical prowess produces next.

Crytek's latest release, Crysis Remastered, is available now on the Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.