An Exclusive Look At "The Crossing" - Database: Episode 9

[Omnomnick]

It's been a while since exclusive, previously unseen assets for cancelled games graced the ValveTime front page...so let's change that! Some time ago, we managed to unearth unreleased screenshots, concept art, character designs, in-game footage, and even VMF's for "The Crossing".

Like "Half-Life 2: Episode Four", The Crossing was a first-person shooter running on the Source engine and was being development by Arkane Studios in collaboration with Valve Corporation. In the Database episode linked below, we explore the massive number of unreleased assets we were able to get our hands on and analyse them alongside officially released information from trailers and interviews in the hopes of learning more about this mysterious title.

The game was to feature "Crossplayer", an innovative and dynamically changing hybrid of singleplayer storytelling and multiplayer gamemodes, altering game rules and narrative progression depending on which players were participating in a match and when they joined. Thanks to the help of artist Viktor Antonov, the game's visual design borrowed heavily from the themes of Half-Life 2 while also paving the way for 2012's Dishonored. Once you're done checking out the video, click the images below to take a closer look at a select few of the unreleased assets highlighted throughout our Database episode, including storyboards, character art, and location concepts.

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Pretty cool, huh? Once you're finished, be sure to let us know what you think of this kind of content in the comments below, to check out our previous episodes of ValveTime Database, and to subscribe to our YouTube channel!

 

[Jackathan³]

no sources or download links for the art and videos? why? (non watermarked art that is)

 

[Omnomnick]

no sources or download links for the art and videos? why? (non watermarked art that is)

Sources are from all over the place (including publicly available portfolios) and watermarking art in the short term is important because it stops people trying to share our content without giving credit.

 

[HeadClot]

Sources are from all over the place (including publicly available portfolios) and watermarking art in the short term is important because it stops people trying to share our content without giving credit.

So basically VNN got it

 

[Vincent Pride]

Sources are from all over the place (including publicly available portfolios) and watermarking art in the short term is important because it stops people trying to share our content without giving credit.

Without driving traffic to VT you wanted to say...

 

[Omnomnick]

So basically VNN got it

What I said applies to all media outlets, some of which would happily share the assets without giving any credit to their discovery.

 

[hogsy]

Any chance that the VMFs will be made public so others can check them out / archive them?

 

[-smash-]

We ended up releasing the raw pictures of EP3, so we'll do the same here.

 

[no1dead]

I'm very surprised that there was this much information about the game out there.

I will try to get in contact with some of the programmers that I know at arkane and see if the practice you're talking about is still being done, and generally if its even possible to get a copy of the game.