After a quiet hiatus and lack of personal involvement in his games, Grasshopper founder and CEO Suda51 seems to have returned to the scene.
While a few of his works, including his first US title Killer7, received a little bit of side eye from critics, Suda51 was able to create a strong fan base outside of Japan. These fans will be happy to hear that Suda51, alongside Famitsu, has returned to the world of Killer7. Since the start of this month, Suda51 will be writing several spin-off short stories titled Killer is Dead (not to be confused with the 2013 Grasshopper developed game of the same title).
Currently on part 2 of his creative new work, Suda51 will continue to publish his stories weekly with the online magazine. Some speculated that the recent release of content from the described “Robert Rodriguez of video games” was meant to coincide with the release of Killer is Dead: Nightmare Edition for the PC. However, Grasshopper took to twitter to reassure fans that this new project is solely a spin-off of Killer7 and has no connection to Killer is Dead, other than sharing a name.
It was further revealed via Grasshopper’s twitter that the short stories being released were written by Suda51 prior to Killer7’s initial release–making these stories predecessor’s to the game.
The short stories can be read on the Famitsu page for free, but sadly there is no English translation as of yet. Perhaps English speaking fans will get lucky and a fluent or bilingual reader will kindly spend the time to translate them? Or perhaps Grasshopper is waiting for higher demand before releasing an English version? Who knows?
While some are disappointed to see new content from both Suda51 and Grasshopper is not another game, others are in the meantime happy to take part in their new projects. Glad to see Suda51 back in the swing of things!