SYDNEY, Australia. – September 28, 2011 – Award-winning independent game developer Klei Entertainment and EA Partners, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced Shank™ 2, the sequel to last year’s Annie Award nominated downloadable action title. The original game was praised by critics at 1UP.com for being “…the freshest, most unequivocally rewarding beat-em-up game to come along in a decade” and EGM Magazine called the original Shank “…one of the most intense action experiences of the last few years”. Shank 2 will be available for Xbox LIVE® Arcade, PlayStation® Network and PC in early 2012.
“Creatively, Shank still has a lot to give” said Jamie Cheng, founder of Klei Entertainment. “We took the feedback from the community and ran with it, putting our own flavor on every change. For Shank 2, we literally took apart the game and put it back together to push the envelope in combat mechanics, visuals, and 2D animation in games.”
“We are honored to again partner with the visionary talent of Klei Entertainment,” said Jamil Moledina, Director, Business Development at EA Partners. “Shank 2 showcases their ability to blend emotionally resonant yet sardonically violent storytelling with pitch perfect controls and art design and confirms EA Partners’ strategy of bringing the best independent games simultaneously to all leading digital platforms.”
Shank 2 returns with a story of redemption as Shank, a former mob hitman with a dark and vengeful past, is thrust back into action when the lives of those close to him are endangered. Expanding on the original game’s rich and intuitive combat and control system, Shank 2 continues Klei’s tradition of making fluid brawling controls and stunningly beautiful visuals that leapfrogs the competition in the 2D side-scrolling genre. The game also introduces an intense new, arcade-style survival co-op mode that has gamers working together to take down their foes, relying on the environment and weapon pick-ups for survival.
For more information on Shank 2, please visit www.shankgame.com and follow the development team at www.twitter.com/klei and at www.facebook.com/shankgame.
Klei Entertainment is represented by Creative Artists Agency.