‘The Axis Unseen’ promises to be “five times bigger than ‘Skyrim’”

The Axis Unseen, an upcoming horror hunting sim from a former developer at Bethesda, promises to be “five times bigger than Skyrim.”

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That’s according to the game’s developer, Nate Purkeypile, speaking to PCGamesN. Purkeypile left Bethesda in 2021, after a 14-year stint at the company as an artist, with experience working on multiple Fallout Games, Skyrim and the upcoming Starfield.

Purkeypile’s new project, The Axis Unseen, is an open-world FPS in which players are tasked with hunting down various monsters from ancient folklore, with the aid of an elemental bow. Or die trying, as the game’s Steam page warns, “the hunter is also the hunted.”

Speaking with PCGamesN, Purkeypile revealed that he had just finished the game’s full map, promising that it is “five times the size of Skyrim.”

The game’s focus is on exploring the wilderness, so don’t expect that map to be filled with dungeons to explore. But for those worried about an enormous, Purkeypile promises that it’s a varied map with six different regions, all with their own weather, lighting and creatures.

The Axis Unseen apparently takes inspiration from hunting sims, which Purkeypile describes as a “fascinating” genre, with its focus on in-depth combat alongside following wind direction and animal tracks.

There’s no release date available yet for the game, with The Axis Unseen’s Steam page simply listing “When the Axis aligns,” which is poetic but unhelpful. Still, Purkeypile said that development was going smoothly, and is meeting targets in advance.

In a separate interview with PCGamesN, Purkeypile also touched on his work with Bethesda on the upcoming Starfield, which he describes as the company’s biggest game yet, both in terms of the game itself as well as the development team behind it.

Elsewhere in the gaming world, we finally have an insight into how much money Microsoft makes on Game Pass every year, in a document released by Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) as part of the company’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.