Former Tomb Raider, Call of Duty devs form indie studio Tangentlemen

Tomb Raider creator Toby Gard has banded an impressive team of industry veterans together to form new indie studio, Tangentlemen.

The studio’s website states Gard and Cory Davis, known for his work at TimeGate Studios and Monolith, have taken on the roles of co-creative directors. General manager and head of production John Garcia-Shelton worked on both the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty franchises, while art director Rich Smith previously worked as a senior artist at both Infinity Ward and Respawn Entertainment.

The team originally came together to develop and ship Spark Unlimited’s Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, and decided to continue on together as an independent studio.

"The rocketing costs of AAA development led to a creative stagnation in games until the recent explosion of the indie scene," Gard said. "We have formed Tangentlemen to take some creative risks and trust our belief that there is an audience who want fun experiences that don’t fall comfortably inside predefined marketing boxes."

"Our solutions are not what you’d expect," Davis added. "They’re often weird, or even absurd, with strong gestures that challenge the status quo. Our games are extreme in their thematic, narrative, and mechanical design. I seriously can’t wait to tell you exactly what we’re up to right now."

Tangentlemen’s first project – an existential, surreal horror trip” with the working name Daedalus – is still in the conceptual phase, with more information to be released soon.