Watch the full video PC Gaming Show's Weird West, also available on YouTube.

Raphael Colantonio, founder of Arkane Studios, channeled his passion for immersive sim games like Deus Ex and Thief into Dishonored. Now he is creating something that draws from his other passion, classic top-down RPGs like Fallout and Ultima 7. The difference with Weird West, and the kind of games I like to work on, is physical," he said in an interview with The PC Gaming Show. 'Going from first-person to top-down doesn't make much difference mentally. Instead of seeing through the eyes of a character, you have the chance to run a party of people. You have followers and a strategic view. The spirit of exploration remains the same, but the perspective is different."

Weird West is an RPG set in an odd version of the Old West, with a bit of Deadlands and a touch of Stephen King's Dark Tower. This isn't the first story to mix monsters and horror into a western, but if you've played the meticulously detailed Dishonored, you won't be surprised to hear that Colantonio's team spent a lot of time building up this world and making it their own.

Even from a top-down perspective, the way you interact with the world is straight out of the "Deus Ex" playbook, from systems like stealth and sound to the multiple ways to tackle quests, and while most RPGs are open-ended, Colantonio, like his previous work, has focused on real-time and Like its predecessors, however, "Deus Ex" focuses on real-time simulation, and success or failure is determined by actions rather than stats, according to Colantonio.

Combat actually follows the twin-stick shooter, but with the addition of RPG abilities; Colantonio uses the example of a gun master, "thinking fast" to trigger bullet time, and leveling up that skill to prolong and enhance the slow-motion effect, enhance it, he said. Systemic elements will also play a major role in combat. For example, if you are engulfed in fire, you may need to use your rainmaking abilities to put out the fire. Or, one could break a water barrel and get drenched.

What Weird West does really differently is its characters. Says Colantonio, "Unlike traditional RPGs where you play one character's main quest, it's a relay of main quests." 'When the first character's main quest is finished, you move on to the next character. The first character is still in the world, so you can go back and add that character to your party.

Death is also a little different than usual. Corantonio says, "The world remains the same as it was when you died. ' In other words, your actions have consequences, and you cannot undo them by reloading a previous save game. Weird West is a harsh world, even for your followers. If a party member dies and you don't have an item to resurrect them, they are doomed." One day they might resurrect in undead form. You never know what might happen," he teases.

The game won't be released until 2021, but the first demo of Weird West will be available "in a few months. I hope I can make friends with this pig man.