The team that created L.A. Noire and The Getaway is back, quietly updating the Team Bondi website with a certain 1930s Asian aesthetic, tying into the Whore of the Orient title thrown around by game-maker Brendan McNamara several months ago.

Shanghai, 1936. Whore of the Orient. Paris of the East. The most corrupt and decadent city on the planet, where anything can be had or done for the right price. Plaything of Western powers who greedily exploit the Chinese masses. Boiling pot of Chinese nationalism, with the Kuomintang ruthlessly trying to suppress Communism and the labour movement. Home to the International Police Force, a group of Western cops hopelessly trying to keep the lid on and keep the peace.

Following the release of L.A. Noire, Team Bondi imploded, leaving pieces to be picked up by Australian company Kennedy Miller Mitchell, developers of Happy Feet 2.

Back in November last year, it was revealed that the Team Bondi founder’s next title would be Whore of the Orient, with McNamara promising the Australian Financial Review he would tell “one of the great untold stories of the twentieth century”.

The new game – and many of the studio’s developers – were picked up by KMM, part of the Academy Award-winning film production team’s new gaming arm. It was never really revealed if Team Bondi had become KMM, or if it was still a separate studio, merely sharing a parent company.

That part hasn’t been completely explained, but in the meantime, we’re being promised a “completely new and original IP”. Warner Bros is apparently attached to publish – but you’ll have to wait a while to see what it’s about. While the game is headed to PC, it’s also hitting the dreaded “next-generation games consoles”.

At time of writing, the Team Bondi Twitter page has not been updated in just over a year, and this is the first update we’d seen to the studio’s website in the same sort of timeframe.

L.A. Noire was critically acclaimed and loved by gamers, selling more than 5 million units, and becoming the first game ever to be shown at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival. The game is now the U.K.’s fastest-selling original IP, following in the footsteps of Team Bondi‘s earlier project, The Getaway, which had previously held the title.

The Aussie developer went all out on L.A. Noire, with each actor’s facial performance captured in amazing detail above and beyond conventional mocap technology.

With McNamara known for writing painstakingly detailed scripts and screenplays, and a setting as lush and vibrant as 1936 China, Whore of the Orient could be something very tasty indeed – here’s hoping we won’t have to wait too long to hear more! (Worth noting: Team Bondi is hiring, so if you’d like to be a part of an awesome-sounding new project – particularly if you’re an artist or a programmer – now’s your chance!)