Former The Last Guardian devs form indie studio Friend & Foe with two games on the way

Former The Last Guardian developers and video game development veterans have formed a new independent studio Friend & Foe that is currently hard at work developing two games in parallel: Vane and Dangerous Men.

Based in Tokyo, the newly formed studio consists of a team of five: illustrator, accountant and "resident wiseman" Ivar Dahlberg; environment artist and art director Rasmus Deguchi; and, studio head Thomas Lilja, who will also create the studio's sound and music. The team also includes Rui "Mad Dog" Guerreiro, who is looking after the code and art of Vane and Victor Santaquiteria, who is heading the development of Dangerous Men.

Collectively, their experience covers AAA titles such as The Last Guardian, Battlefield 3, Bionic Commando, Killzone and more. The studio believes in "extremely nimble game development" and aims to self-fund and self-publish its titles as far as possible.

"As many before us, however, we grew tired of working for big companies and chose instead to bet it all on pooling our talents and set out on the great indie adventure we always wanted," reads a statement on the official website. "We're now at a point where we're ready to start showing our projects to the world. We really hope you enjoy the ride and see what we get up to!"

Friend & Foe told Polygon that it is super happy to see that people are excited and are looking forward to sharing the studio's progress.

Dangerous Men is an action arcade game based on ‘80's buddy cop movies. The game centers on detectives Dan and Don and their goal to clear the city of the Punk Gang menace. Dangerous Men is primarily in development for iOS devices with other platforms to be announced.

Vane is an open-world adventure game with an emphasis on atmosphere, mystery and exploration. As a child with an odd ability, players unlock secrets of an unknown land through exploration, puzzle-solving and "other features yet to be revealed." Vane is in development for PC first with other titles to be revealed a later date. Both games' release dates are listed as "when it's done."