Remember Gex or Fear Effect? How about Anachronox? Square wants to bring them back

By Will Fulton February 18, 2015

Gex stands on a TV. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Square Enix has sent the call out for developers to pitch game ideas based on three old IP from Eidos, which the publisher acquired in 2009. Specifically, Square wants to hear your ideas for bringing back Gex, Fear Effect, and Anachronox, although other titles may be added to that list if this goes well.

The call for submissions comes from Square Enix Collective, a publisher-supported crowdfunding curation platform launched in 2013. The platform accepts open submissions for games that are vetted first by the publisher and then put forward to the community to gauge interest. Square Enix then works with the chosen projects to develop a budget and schedule, bringing the publisher’s vast resources to bear in supporting an Indiegogo campaign, which should have a leg up with the community support already generated by the selection process.

While Square will be screening the projects to make sure they are relevant to the franchises, that does not mean the search is for conventional sequels–the call for submissions specifically encourages developers to put their own, original spin on the games: “What would Gex look like in a side-scrolling adventure, or a turn-based strategy? So feel free to mash up genres, and get creative.”

Gex spawned a series of platformers developed by Crystal Dynamics in the ’90s, starring a wise-cracking, pop culture-savvy gecko voiced by comedian Dana Gould. The last entry in the series was Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko in 1999 on PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and Game Boy Color. Fear Effect and Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix are 3D action adventures released for PlayStation in 2000 and 2001, combining action and puzzles and serving as one of the first examples of cel shaded graphics. Anachronox is a science fiction role-playing game released for Windows by Ion Storm in 2001, just one month before the Dallas studio shut down.

You can learn more about the particulars requirements for submission and the publishing deal being offered over on the Square Enix Collective blog. What other old IP would you like to see opened up for outside developers to take a crack at?

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Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

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