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Annapurna Interactive partners with Blendo Games to publish sneaky FPS Skin Deep

Skin Deep promises a subversive approach to the usual first-person shooter affair and will now fall under the Annapurna banner for its release on PC.

TJ Denzer

April 20, 2021 5:40 PM

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Independent studio Blendo Games has spent years creating titles that bend expectation of gameplay and storytelling across various genres. It intends to do the same with Skin Deep: an upcoming first-person shooter in which players awoken from cryo on a drifting spacecraft must sneak around and fight off space pirates. Players are “outnumbered, outgunned, and have no shoes,” and the whole concept was enough to get publisher Annapurna Interactive’s attention because it recently announced partnership with Blendo to publish Skin Depp on PC.

Annapurna Interactive and Blendo Games announced the partnership on Skin Deep in a press release on April 20, 2021, and the game is now listed on the Annapurna website. In this game, players play a passenger on a ship traveling through space when it’s attacked by space pirates. Awoken from cryo, players must use whatever tools and weapons they can get their hands on and be mindful of their allergies in air ducts (no really, there’s a Sneeze Bar) as they sneak around the ship outsmarting and dispatching the pirates. It was first announced back in October 2018.

Annapurna is well-known at this point for its catalogue of published games featuring outlandish narratives, art styles, and gameplay from the likes of What Remains of Edith Finch, Donut County, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Maquette, and plenty more. Skin Deep certainly seems to fit right in with the previously listed games and Annapurna said as much in its statement on the partnership.

“Blendo is known for creating games that have compelling stories and great gameplay, and that’s exactly what drew us to work with Brendon [Chung],” said Annapurna Interactive President Nathan Gary. “Skin Deep embodies all that and more. We’re truly blown away by their artistry and can’t wait to get it out in the world for everyone to play.”

Blendo Games Founder and lead Brendon Chung shared enthusiasm for the partnership as well.

“It's an honor to be working alongside the incredibly talented folks at Annapurna Interactive. What a thrill to be making Skin Deep the best it can be,” said Chung.

And so Skin Deep with be part of the Annapurna catalogue as it moves forward with Blendo Games in this partnership. With Skin Deep still currently sitting on a nebulous launch window of “the future,” stay tuned for more reveals and details showcasing gameplay and a release date as information becomes available.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.