It started with a teased announcement last month, blossomed into a vaguely-hinty Swedish video game magazine cover, and coalesced into an alleged Google listing for the game on EA's Origin. There's no confirmation, but it's beginning to look a lot like Crysis 3. Update: Now with confirmation!
The discussion began on NeoGAF (as many do) following a March story from CVG teasing a "spectacular" new game in the works for console and PC from Crytek, with the developer's general manager of games, Nick Button-Brown calling it "the best of that kind of project we've ever done".
Fans, of course, jumped to the natural conclusion: Timesplitters 4.
But alas! Another tease in the form of the cover for the April issue of the Swedish edition of video game magazine Game Reactor contains that trademark hexagonal webbing from Crytek's power-suit shooter franchise.
And then (allegedly) the EA Origin store listings for Crysis 3 showed up in a Google search, with pictures of the box art (seen above), which seems to seal the deal. The listings, however, had the game pegged at $49.99 for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, which seems a bit low all things considered.
Again, this is no confirmation, and I'm not sure how much stock I'd put in the whole box art thing; that looks like any of the gray New York backgrounds from Crysis 2 . I wouldn't say Crysis 3 isn't going to be announced soon, just that if that ends up being the actual box art it's pretty damn lazy. Hopefully it's not.
I've reached out to EA and Crytek regarding this alleged game. Until then I'll keep my pointy rumor hat firmly planted.
Update: There goes the rumor hat. EA told the eventual Polygon.com to expect more on Crysis 3 on April 16, adding "The best kept secret in shooters just can't be contained".
Crytek to Announce 'Absolutely Fantastic' New Project [Likely Crysis 3] [NeoGAF via Eurogamer]