Flagship Seattle's action RPG Mythos was on the launch pad. Developed by ex-Blizzard North developers, the title had been accumulating interest in RPG circles and an open beta was on the horizon.

But when Flagship Seattle's San Francisco, Calif.-based parent collapsed under the weight of the embattled Hellgate: London for PC, Mythos was officially placed in dreaded development limbo.

However, the Mythos team survives in spirit, as Flaghsip Seattle has reformed as Runic Games, which will continue to work in the online action-RPG genre.

"This has been a fairly difficult time I think for all of us--Flagship really felt like family, and losing that is very trying," Travis Baldree, president of Runic tells Edge. "We were so close to bringing Mythos to open beta (and shortly thereafter to commercialization), that it's heartbreaking to know that it won't see the light of day as we intended."

Despite the setback, the 15-person Runic team, comprised of all of the original Flagship Seattle workforce (plus fellow studio head Max Schafer), is forging ahead with online action RPGs--a genre that's about to get really crowded with the introduction of Blizzard's upcoming Diablo III.

Baldree is confident that Runic's future endeavors will still find an audience with gamers. "We very much believe in what we were doing with Mythos--creating a fast-paced MMO in the Diablo mold, that brought together socialization and visceral, fun combat," he says. "Our testers' response was great, and we think there's really a place in the market for what we were doing, even with Diablo III on the horizon. We really want to get there again."

With a new name but essentially the same staff, Runic still has ties to the people who founded the original Flagship Studios. But even with Runic's intimate involvement with Mythos, the relationship between the studio and that particular IP appears to be over.

"At present, we're proceeding under the assumption that continuing with Mythos won't be possible for us," Baldree replies when asked about the possibility of working with the game again. "There are some enormous obstacles to making that a reality."

He continues, "The future of the IP and technology are in question, and in cases like this, as engineers drift away it becomes increasingly difficult to make use of what's come before.

"We're fortunate enough to have our entire Mythos team on board for Runic--but the good folks from Ping0 who were responsible for the network back-end have begun to find employment elsewhere, so that door really does seem to be closing."

But perhaps it's best that Runic take advantage of this soft reset to embark on a whole new adventure. While Runic is currently focused on PC titles, Baldree admitted that his team has "long wanted" to do an action-RPG for consoles. The talented team is keeping its options open.

An optimistic Baldree assures, "...The spirit of development that we fostered here in the Northwest is very much alive."