Burbank, the Sims-like from XCOM dev Jake Solomon, has been canceled

Jake Solomon, one of the designers behind XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Marvel's Midnight Suns, left Firaxis Games in 2023 to start Midsummer Studios. The team was developing Burbank, a life sim framed like The Truman Show, but Solomon announced the studio will be closing and Burbank has been canceled.

He posted an almost three-minute clip of the game in action alongside the news. Solomon said, "I believe people are storytellers. I want them to share whatever stories and characters they can dream up. Burbank lets you do that. We have moments playing this game where characters come alive in a way we've never experienced.

And for an old game developer like me, that's special." He noted the clip is still pre-alpha, and "if I'm being honest, it definitely shows." Facial expressions look rough around the edges, animations are janky, and the UI is clearly unfinished. Solomon added the characters in Burbank "use AI for memory reasoning, and speech.

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