One of our very first environment test was a big ancient city that would have suffered the wrath of a volcanic eruption nearby.
Lots of intertwining paths and room for exploration at that time. It would have required a lot more people than we had to produce levels of this scale.
So considering the size of our team and the core gameplay (it's a fighting game with a bit of exploration in the end): we started working on a new environment from scratch, with more diversity and better suited level design for the gameplay loop.
The idea of the huge landmark tower crowning the city still made it though. :)
The art style for Absolver had not been defined at the time these pictures were made.
All Ashrain City researches are 3d paintovers based on level design blocking by Jules Ducasse.
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