It appears Microsoft might have used the trademark for a couple of projects. Brimstone Games was originally tipped as the developer of a game called "Eden Falls," building a single player RPG rated for adults, apparently, for Android and iOS tablets. Microsoft later purchased the domain "EdenFallsGame.com," and it looked as though the project was gaining steam.
Later on, the trademark "Eden Falls" became associated with a rumored project from Lift London, which seems to now be responsible for developing experiences for HoloLens.
Well, we got our hands on the game, and we took a look at this canceled project for Xbox One and Windows 8 devices.
First look at Eden Falls
Eden Falls would have been a city-builder crossed with an action RPG, which was referred to internally as the two-minute multiplayer online battle arena ( MOBA). We saw both the Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 versions, but interestingly, the trailer claims the game was slated for consoles, too.
Set in a zombie apocalypse, players would've been able to control Jack, Maria, and Doc, in a battle to rebuild Eden Falls and survive the undead onslaught. Players would've been able to defeat and employ zombies to help build their cities, while also invading other players' towns in online battles. Each of the game's main characters had different strengths, weaknesses, and gameplay styles, to suit different roles.
Eden Falls looks dated by today's standards, but it was in development for Windows 8 devices, such as the lovely Lumia 920 and the not-so-lovely Surface RT, around 2012 or 2013.
The Eden Falls store listing describes the game as follows:
Welcome to Eden Falls, home of the Working Dead!
Things have been a little screwy since the zombie infection, but at Eden Falls, we're working hard to rebuild civilization. And YOU can help.
- Meet the citizens of Eden Falls and discover the truth behind the zombie outbreak.
- Rise up from the ruins and build a town to be proud of!
- Tame and train an army of the undead, including farmers, construction workers, soldiers, and specialists.
- Shoot and loot your way through neighboring towns to gather supplies and climb the leaderboards.
- Tackle daredevil missions and explore new areas in wild zombie territory.
- Rescue survivors to grow your town's population.
- Face down the zombie horde and a sinister human foe!
As noted in the trailer, it would've also had an Xbox version, presumably with improved visuals, designed to exemplify the cross-platform nature of the "OneCore" platform. (Halo Spartan Assault remains the only game that runs across phone, tablets, PCs, and Xbox, with Minecraft slated to join it later this summer.)
Eden Falls bears some curious visual similarities to Disney's Gravity Falls, and it seems as though Eden Falls was slated to pick up an accompanying comic book series and even TV show to go along with the game.
Eden Falls was apparently a fairly large project that was close to completion. It has some achievements set up on Xbox Live and received a Pan European Game Information (PEGI) rating of 12, at least according to its store page. PEGI's website offers no such listing.
Unanswered questions
Eden Falls looks dated, but it harkens back to a time when Microsoft cared about getting Windows phones into consumers' hands, leveraging games to do the trick. It sounds as though Eden Falls had a pretty ambitious feature set, mimicking similar city-builder titles, like Microsoft's Age of Empires: Castle Siege.
Even after our look at the game, mysteries remain. What does "Eden Falls'" have to do with Brimstone Games' separate adult-rated RPG, for example? Why was Lift London's version killed off, despite being close to completion? We may never fully know the answers, but I for one think Eden Falls looked pretty cool, particularly for a Windows phone game with Xbox integration. We might finally have Minecraft, but I doubt we'll be seeing much more from Microsoft Studios on the mobile side moving forward.
