11 bit studios picks up South of the Circle, a cinematic narrative adventure

A chilling return from the legendary studio

11 bit studios, the renowned developer behind games like This War of Mine and Frostpunk, has just announced their newest publishing project, a cinematic narrative adventure called South of the Circle, drawing from the likes of Firewatch and What Remains of Edith Finch. Following an Apple Arcade debut, the studio has partnered up with the British BAFTA-award-winning developer State of Play for a PC and console release.

Set in the 1960’s Cold War era, South of the Circle follows Peter, a man who finds himself torn between his love, his work, and the tension between military powers that hides under the surface. The art style is minimal, yet still stunning, and the game will be voiced by a stellar voice cast, including Gwilym Lee (Bohemian Rhapsody), Olivia Vinall (The Woman in White), Richard Goulding (The Crown), Anton Lesser (Game of Thrones), Adrian Rawlins (Chernobyl), and Michael Fox (Downton Abbey).

External Development director of 11 bit studios Marek Ziemak shared his own thoughts on the game:

“South of the Circle is one of those love-at-first-sight things. The game’s narrative and artistic sensitivity immediately captivated us. South of the Circle is heavily-focused on storytelling inspired by world-class cinema, which makes it a bit different from our previous titles.

Once players experience its instantaneously engaging, emotion-packed narrative, we’re convinced they’ll understand why we wanted to have it in our publishing portfolio. And we’re thrilled to be able to start working with State of Play since it’s a studio that has been on our radar for a long time.”

Fans in the comments of the announcement trailer joke that 11 bit studios only makes games that take place in incredibly cold settings (which they kind of do), and talk about how excited they are to have a new title from the publisher. 11 bit is one of those indie studios that just never seems to miss, and given South of the Circle falls into my all-time favorite game genre, this is one that I personally can’t wait for, as well.

No release window yet, but South of the Circle will be coming soon to PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series S|X, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4.