Dead Island 2 Devs Open New Studio, Release "Mammoth" Game

Three former Yager developers have left the Spec Ops: The Line and Dead Island 2 studio to create their own independent outfit, which they are calling InBetweenGames. The developer's first game is called The Mammoth: A Cave Painting, which is inspired by prehistoric cave-paintings; watch a trailer for it below.

You don't have to wait to play A Cave Painting, as it's available now for free for iOS and Android devices or through your browser.

Looking beyond A Cave Painting, the Berlin, Germany-based InBetweenGames says it's working on multiple prototypes for the studio's "first big release," which is penciled in for fall 2016. No further details are available at this time, but the studio says, "We're not doing pixel art nor puzzle platformers."

InBetweenGames was founded by Yager veterans Isaac Ashdown and Jan David Hassel, who worked on Spec Ops: The Line and Dead Island 2, as well as 15-year industry veteran Rafal Fedro.

Earlier this year, Deep Silver removed Yager as the developer for Dead Island 2. On the InBetweenGames website, the studio repeatedly refers to Dead Island 2 as "cancelled," though Deep Silver has said it remains in development.

"While we have Spec Ops: The Line under our belt we still feel like we have something to prove," Hassel said in a statement. "We want to make games and give them to you. That's what we're here for. That didn't really work out in AAA the last couple of years for us. So we will have a go at this indie thing and don't hold back intending to punch above our weight class as hard as we can. It will either work out or it will go up in flames. But it will be fun. You should watch."

The release of A Cave Painting comes just days after Ubisoft announced its own prehistoric game with mammoths, Far Cry Primal.

"Haha… straight coincidence!," Fedro said. "I was really surprised when I've seen announcement trailer. We have this running joke that we are the 'trend-setters,' but of course that's not true. To be able to ship it in 2016--they must have been working on it for at least one year now. It’s an interesting direction Ubisoft is taking for Far Cry series."

You can read more about InBetweenGames on their newly launched website.