It seems not all is tranquil in the F.E.A.R. universe, as Dave Matthews, primary art lead for F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, offered some harsh words on the expansion packs that followed the first game.

Matthews, who works for Monolith studios, told CVG the Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate expansions by TimeGate studios aren’t official canon.

TimeGate took the story in a way Monolith didn’t intend, Matthews said. "We look at Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate as an alternate universe, a ’what could have been’, and because of that it doesn’t necessarily diminish the story that we were trying to tell," he explained. "F.E.A.R. was about Alma, F.E.A.R. 2 is about Alma, and we wanted to continue the story the way we originally intended."

After deploring TimeGate’s expansions, Matthews added that console ports of F.E.A.R. by Day 1 studios didn’t match up to Monolith’s original PC version. Console versions of the sequel, he said, will resemble their PC counterpart.

"Now we’re handling all three versions, we’ve changed our development structure to develop all three SKUs simultaneously and there’s no lead platform," Matthews said. "While there will be some slight variations between the different versions, so if you’re on PC you can push some things further, our main goal is to make sure the experience is synonymous across all three platforms."

When CVG brought to his attention that the expansions and ports introduced a lot of new fans to the franchise, Matthews responded, "And killed off a few."

Project Origins is scheduled for release on February 13, 2009.