Techland has provided GWN with an exclusive interview on their upcoming project, Warhound.

Techland has recently took time away from their hectic development schedule to answer a few questions we had about Warhound. Warhound, slated for the PC and Xbox 360, is an open-ended first-person shooter set in modern times. Let's take a closer look and see what Techland has in store for gamers in 2008.

Hello, and thanks for granting us this interview. Please inform our readers about yourself, your role at Techland, and your work on Warhound.
My name is Paweł Kopiński and I'm PR Product Manager of Warhound. I'm taking care of the title’s promotion, contacts with media and good relationships with Warhound community. Above all I'm dealing with the game’s producers and designers to convince them to implement ideas and solutions that come directly from gamers’ community.

What was the genesis for Warhound? Did the project begin with a story on a mercenary in mind or did the gameplay lend itself to telling the story?
First of all we all are players so in the very beginning we tried to figure out what kind of game we want to see and play. We decided to create a title that will give the player so much freedom that he woouldn’t feel just a part of highly scripted game. We mean freedom on the strategy level like freedom of choosing missions, equipment, developing skills, determining drop zones and extraction points as well as freedom on the tactical level such as various ways of getting to the target, huge influence of the developed skills on gameplay and the random factor that makes every game a unique experience.

While this idea was evolving and we were designing new areas to add to the freedom in decision making the mercenary theme emerged. Private Military Contractors started to come out of the shadow.
We started investigating the subject focusing on the modern mercenaries who have been recognized in all conflicts all around the globe.
It turned out that it is possible to combine the freedom of gameplay with an up-to-date theme. This is how the first synopsis of Warhound was created.

The equipment that might prove especially useful includes the night and thermovision goggles perfect for the nighttime missions. The players who prefer stealth will be pleased with binoculars and ghillie suits.
Everyone will be able to upgrade their weapons with scopes, bipods, silencers, red dots, etc. Every type of weapon is of course equipped with a unique set of optional upgrades and extras.

In addition to all this there is dedicated gear for alpinists and other specialties. Let me just mention the grappling hook that allows exploration of areas difficult to access and opens new ways of achieving goals.