Recently, Irrational Games’ Ken Levine let some new details leak about his new game, which he has so far enjoyed teasing the internet about. According to Levine, this mysterious upcoming title was inspired by a very odd mix of games:

He was asked what his influences were and proceeded to list off a “broad range of influences.” These include not only first-person franchises (his new game is first-person) but other genres, too.

He said the new game is inspired in part by Dark Souls, System Shock, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Civilization, and Dying Light (the game he was playing during the livestream). But don’t necessarily expect Levine’s next game to closely resemble any of those games. Instead, the game will be more “in the realm” of some of the earlier games that he worked on, the developer explained.

One other interesting thing to note is that Levine said the game will not be a Triple-A title and will instead be, quote, “a smaller, more entrepreneurial” project”.

During an earlier interview, Levine had revealed that the game would focus on the theme of artificial intelligence and what it is like to be “programmed”. Apparently, the game is set up as a “small-scale” open world where replayability and player choice are defining features. No doubt we’ll hear more in the coming year as development speeds up.