Legendary Designer Warren Spector on His Return to AAA Gaming With Argos: Riders on the Storm

I’ve interviewed Warren Spector – the legendary game designer behind such seminal works as Deus Ex, System Shock, Ultima Underworld, and many more – many times during my 20-year career, most recently during a career-spanning IGN Unfiltered conversation in 2017. Since then, though, he’s mostly laid low, teaching game design courses at the University of Texas. But Spector, a 40-year industry veteran, is back with something to prove: that he can do multiplayer.

“I’m a relentless advocate for immersive sims,” he said. “I’ve been thinking for years now: ‘What is the next step in immersive sims?’ I think I've figured that out.” His answer is a multiplayer immersive sim, in the same vein as the games that made him a critical darling. The name of the project is Argos: Riders on the Storm, and beyond that…we don’t really know anything else yet. And Spector wasn’t ready to share any details, other than to say, “It’s about time I tried multiplayer.” But he was more than happy to discuss his philosophy on this project and what multiplayer means to him in the context of the games he likes to make and play.

Dungeons and Dragons came up a lot. “We would not be talking if not for Dungeons and Dragons,” he said, emphasizing how the D&D experience is fundamental to his game-design ethos. He went on to add that he wants to give players the same feeling he had the first time he played D&D. “That idea that everyone becomes an author is super powerful.” He expanded on this, suggesting that if he doesn’t bring anything new to the table with Argos, then it’s time for him to hang it up. “I am a firm believer that every game has to have one thing that no one’s ever seen or done in a game before,” Spector said. “I promise you that the game we’re working on now will do that.”

"I am a firm believer that every game has to have one thing that no one's ever seen or done in a game before." -Warren Spector

“We” is OtherSide Entertainment, the Boston-based development house founded by longtime Spector collaborator Paul Neurath. The studio was founded in 2013, with Spector joining in 2016 as the head of a second team based out of Austin. The company’s most notable release was 2018’s Ultima Underworld spiritual sequel Underworld Ascendant, which Spector did not direct.

But back to the new game. Spector did give one hint aside from multiplayer (which he indirectly made quite clear will be a small-scale affair – nothing with dozens or hundreds of players), saying that he and the development team have been playing a lot of two games in particular lately. “There’s an awful lot of Deep Rock Galactic being played,” Spector noted. “Little bit of Dying Light 2 in there that’s getting a lot of play [as well].” Then he spoke a bit more conceptually, but also more confidently: “If people want ‘unique and innovative', even I look at what we’re doing and think we’re crazy. The team is accomplishing more than I asked.”

How does this relate to Argos’ multiplayer core? “The idea is to empower players to create their own experiences and tell their own stories,” Spector said. “There are a lot of interesting possibilities in the immersive-sim space. We can empower the players in the same way that we did in the single-player space.”

When I brought up his unmatched longevity in the game industry, Spector didn’t shy away from addressing his age head-on. “I’m pretty sure I’m the oldest person still involved in active game development,” he said matter-of-factly. “The key is continuing to learn. The world is different now than it was five years ago. There’s constant learning.”

"There are a lot of interesting possibilities in the immersive-sim space."

Even after four decades in development, though Spector was certain of one thing as he embarks on bringing the immersive sims he helped establish into a new multiplayer era: “We’re not a solved problem,” he says of making games.

We’ll have much more on Argos: Riders on the Storm as soon as Spector is ready to share more details.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.