For years, Everwild felt more like a ghost than a game. Announced in 2019, Rare’s next big multiplayer title quickly ran into problems throughout its development, soon becoming another victim of the notorious development hell.
Changes in internal management and reports of a creative reboot in 2021 haunted the game until it finally met its demise as part of the massive restructuring wave that hit Xbox this year. Given that work on the game reportedly began in 2014, it would have been in development for over a decade before its cancellation. So while it’s no surprise that Xbox ultimately abandoned the project, the loss is still a shame.
Throughout this troubled cycle, the only things we received were two cinematic trailers. But if you thought we’d seen the end of Everwild, think again. We’ve since come across a collection of development screenshots that offer a brief overview of the project, revealing details about the game’s features and a good look at the user interface.
User interface and screenshots for Rare’s Everwild
The gallery comes from the website of an artist who worked on the game, and the images are from a build relatively close to its cancellation.
While the screenshots primarily show off the work done for the interfaces, we can also spot other elements, such as in-game captures that follow the distinctive visual style seen in the trailers, including the player character standing near a large circle of stones marked on the ground, and another in which she can be seen in front of a temple of sorts.
In the UI, we get a detailed look at the inventory screen, which has six distinct tabs: Favorites, Figments, Tools, Tiles, Seeds, and Plants. Beyond the standard tools and the quick access bar to Favorites, the other sections are much more interesting.
The Figments tab, for example, displays small, colorful creatures, one of which is specifically labeled as a “Light Figment”, suggesting a system for collecting or using these creatures. Equally interesting is the Mosaics tab, which we can assume would have served a decorative purpose. Some of these mosaics depict previously seen characters and animals, including the deer-like creature featured in the trailers.
In another screenshot, we take a closer look at the Plants tab (sometimes called the Seeds tab). This section is largely self-explanatory: an area dedicated to the various seeds used for planting, including a “Shrub Seed”, and indicating that players would have had access to a collection of plants.
Further interface details are mentioned on the website and reveal that Rare allegedly leveraged Sea of Thieves player data when designing Everwild’s settings system. According to the artist, this was done to understand which setups players interacted with most frequently.
Unfortunately, it’s unclear where Rare will go after Everwild’s cancellation. Some of Everwild’s workforce will likely transfer to Sea of Thieves (not including those laid off), providing additional support for the live service title.
But if we remain hopeful, this cancellation could offer Rare the opportunity to relaunch some of its emblematic franchises, such as Banjo-Kazooie or Killer Instinct. Interestingly enough, rumors from a few years ago indicated that new games for both of these franchises were in development. Now we can only wait to see if any of these new entries ever come to fruition.
Another old Rare-developed game recently made the rounds here on MP1st, as gameplay details and concept screens from Xbox’s canceled Perfect Dark reboot surfaced recently.
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