Fans have been waiting a very long time for any news from Valve regarding new game projects. In March, Gabe Newell, the head of Valve, reiterated that Valve is definitely getting back into the game business, though it seems like it might not be in exactly the way many fans have expected. A recent announcement from the small developer Campo Santo has revealed that the company is packing their bags and heading to the Valve offices where they will now be working alongside the titan in the gaming industry.

Many forget that Valve created Portal – one of their most successful titles – only by taking the entire team behind a small project – Narbacular Drop – and hiring them straight to Valve.  Like the mods that would eventually become Half Life, Valve has a tendency to seek talent and then acquire it. While Newell indicated that Valve is certainly producing its own games, the acquisition of Campo Santo solidifies Valve’s desire to get back into gaming, and Valve’s favorite way to do that is by hiring on an entire company to start developing under their wing.

For anyone who has played Campo Santo’s first title, Firewatch, the news won’t come as much of a surprise. The style – both graphically and narratively – of Firewatch falls exactly in line with Valve’s aesthetics.

The style of their games lends itself to the cartoony visuals that Valve has favored for Portal and especially TF2, a style that was intentionally crafted for longevity purposes in the constantly changing gaming landscape. The humor of Campo Santo, both in game and out of game, also seems like something straight out of the Valve handbook.

For now, not much will change for Campo Santo. The team is still working hard on their second release, In the Valley of Gods, and Valve seems happy to let them. It is a well-known management style within Valve that employees basically work on whatever they want, so for Campo Santo, that will be to finish their newest game and successfully ship it. As for what will be on the horizon after, it seems pretty likely it will have a touch of the Valve magic, especially since they are now protected by the guiding wing of one of the most successful game companies in history.