The epic vehicular destruction game Twisted Metal may soon make its return, according to clues found on LinkedIn. After the original game was released on the PlayStation 1 in 1995, it set the bar for early car combat games while providing 90s gamers with multiplayer battles with its 12 playable drivers. Since the first game's release, there have been seven games in the series. The latest was a reboot titled Twisted Metal 2012, developed by Eat Sleep Play on the PlayStation 3 and focused heavily on massive multiplayer battles with both four-player split-screen and 16-player online multiplayer.
Twisted Metal's smooth gameplay made driving and using weapons fun and straightforward, but many fans would argue that it was the game's characters that kept them interested. Each character drives its custom vehicle equipped with its unique abilities and weapons, such as a napalm-slinging ice cream truck driven by a clown with fire for hair or a very muscular man with giant tires wrapped around his hands. Despite the fact that the games are several decades old, Sony plans to create a live-action Twisted Metal action-comedy series starring Anthony Mackie as he travels a wasteland populated with many insane personalities from the games. With a series whose plot revolves around a group of murderous criminals filled with personality and custom weaponized vehicles, it's a surprise that the game series has been dormant since 2012.
According to Twitter user Timur222 (via PSU), a Lead Games Designer named Drew Williams-Rostron recently listed their current job at Lucid Games as "Technical Games Designer on an unannounced first-party flagship AAA IP for the PlayStation 5" on his LinkedIn account. Lucid Games is best known for their PS5-exclusive Destruction AllStars, which features a large cast of characters in a large vehicular battle arena that focuses more on drivers' abilities rather than deadly weapons. With Destruction AllStars being one of the first titles Sony chose to release free to PlayStation Plus members on PS5 in February 2020, it would seem Lucid Games would be an obvious choice to make a new first-party AAA car combat game for the PlayStation 5.
Sony has been interested in expanding the series and came very close to making a Twisted Metal movie starring Nicholas Cage, which fell through due to budgetary concerns. The rumors are not confirmation that a new Twisted Metal game is officially being developed. The rumors piling on and casting news coming out for the live-action series make it seem like a great time to release a new game while Twisted Metal is on the brains of the masses.
Many gamers have been clamoring for newer arcade-racer to take advantage of next-gen software and show off what newer game engines are capable of when it comes to destroying highly detailed vehicles. Twisted Metal sounds like the perfect series to bring back, especially since the beefy hardware in the PS5 should be able to make smashed and exploding cars look beautiful. Hopefully, Sony decides to officially announce a new Twisted Metal game before we hear how Will Arnett's Sweet Tooth will sound in the Twisted Metal live-action series.
Sources: Timur222/Twitter, PSU, Drew Williams-Rostron/LinkedIn