John Romero's new FPS is about "what are we doing new that people haven't done before"

We met with John Romero recently at Gamelab Tenerife, where he reviewed his whole career before the audience of local young devs and fans. In the interview below, other than discussing why Romero Games is focused on hiring in the EU given the summit's framework, we mostly talk about shooters, and even though John himself couldn't share more on his new project, we of course had to ask.

So, little more besides what was announced in July. It's a new shooter by Romero Games, it's based on Unreal Engine 5, it's going to be published by a big, yet-to-be-announced partner.

"That's everything!" Laughed Romero. "I can't say anything else about it, it's not my job to publicise this game but it's been really fun working on it, we've done some really cool stuff. The point of making a shooter is like, 'what are we doing new that people haven't done before', so that's kind of one of the things that drives this game, is doing some new things in the genre".

On that topic, Romero also recalls how players love classic style secret rooms in FPS, and gives a good list of shooters that he has been playing or liking, including indie efforts such as "Turbo Overkill, Ultrakill, Dusk", and then "huge triple-A games, you know, Apex Legends, the Ghost Recons (Wildlands and Breakpoint), Overwatch, PUBG" or the one he's been playing the most, Borderlands 3, as an example of trying something else.

Halfway through the interview Romero also looks back at the gangsters strategy game Empire of Sin and its pre and post-launch process. Again, same as with FPS, "it was very different for the grand strategy genre, and it was not like other games, that's one of the things that we like to do, is make something that's not just a copy of someone else's stuff, that stands inside of a genre that has developed for years now".

What would you like to see in the new FPS by Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein 3D co-creator?