Valve brings the Firewatch team back together

Valve Corporation, makers and maintainers of Steam, just hired Olly Moss, one of the founders of Campo Santo (Firewatch GN Score 9.5 out of 10) and master of the travel poster-style of art composition. Firewatch, for its part, is one of my favorite games of 2016 and one of the most beautifully realized game worlds ever made, due in no small part to Moss's highly imitated aesthetic. 

The acquisition of Moss isn't random, however, since Valve acquired Campo Santo in April of this year, makers of Firewatch. Olly Moss wasn't a part of that original buy-up from Valve, but he's on the roster now. And that's why we see Sean Vanaman, another of Campo Santo's founders, singing "Reunited" to Moss in tweet form above.

This is all good news for people like me who, only yesterday, were scraping around for any possible news about In the Valley of Gods. That's the new game coming from Campo Santo. They put out a great trailer nearly nine months ago but—I'm not going to lie—it made me nervous that Valve hired them. Valve's track record with studio acquisitions is weak.

Valve acquired Turtle Rock Studios (Left 4 Dead) in 2008, but Turtle Rock left again two years later. Valve also acquired two-man gaming company Star Filled Studios in 2012 which went nowhere and dissolved within a year. So now we have Campo Santo in 2018. You can see my apprehension. I was afraid that Campo Santo would just get comfy, quit making In the Valley of Gods, start making, I don't know, hats for DOTA 2 or something, collect a steady paycheck and go home. I mean, I couldn't blame them if that's the route they chose. Making games is hard and filled with devastating work hours. 

But by hiring Olly Moss, I'm once more reassured that progress is being made on In the Valley of Gods. Unless, of course, Moss starts making hats for DOTA 2 or something, collecting that steady paycheck and going home happy at the end of the day.

In the Valley of Gods will most assuredly be available on PC. It says "2019" at the end of the trailer, but Campo Santo is on "Valve Time" now, which means TBD.