When not working on an extras enhanced version of Zeno Clash for XBLA, Chilean developer ACE Team is devoting their creative energies to Zeno Clash 2, the Source-powered sequel to the IGF-nominated fighter.

In an interview with Eurogamer, ACE Team’s co-founder Carlos Bordeu discusses the sequel, which will lean more toward RPG than FPS thanks to an expanded, explorable game world. “Zeno Clash was relatively small, which was fine; we were a small developer…but the art style and the universe are very interesting if you put them in an explorable environment,” said Bordeu. “A lot of people appreciated Zeno Clash for its combat mechanics and we don’t want to lose those fans. But by adding large, explorable areas and making the game bigger and spreading out the combat, I think we can get to a point where the game will become more interesting rather than less interesting.”

In addition to adding more depth to the combat, with the addition of more weapons, more attacks and more characters battling it out in multi-storied levels, ACE Team will be introducing more role-playing elements by “having levels for characters, attributes, an inventory, objectives, side-quests and several other bits that make RPGs popular.”

More Zeno Clash is always a good thing — I’m excited to see the ideas deemed too “crazy” for the first game make an appearance in the second, which promises to be even more beautiful and bizarre thanks to its non-linear gameplay.