A sopresa Frozenbyte svela la sua nuova IP in sviluppo, dopo le problematiche riscontrate con Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power.
Lo sviluppatore finlandese cambia completamente genere per dare nuova linfa al genere stealth.
"Il genere stealth è in crisi da anni. Sparando all'impazzata ed eroi invincibili non è stealth. Revisioni annuali con aggiornamenti come se il roster dei titoli spotivi è un modo di fare giochi di pessima qualità ", dice Lauri Hyvärinen, CEO di Frozenbyte. "Shadwen porterà il genere alle sue radici; l'essere furtivi e nascondersi sarà la parte principale dell'azione. Esploreremo anche le conseguenze morali nell'uccidere attraverso i nostri personaggi".
Parole importanti e ambiziose quelle pronunciate che troveranno un riscontro nel 2016, anno di uscita di questa nuova e, probabilmente, più importante produzione mai sviluppata dalla softco finlandese.
Le caratteristiche principale saranno parecchie come quella di riavvolgere il tempo per manipolare azioni passate e future in modo da superare guardie o pericoli. La fisica avrà un ruolo di primo piano e sarà possibile preparare trappole per distogliere le guardie o per metterle KO. Ogni azione avrà delle conseguenze.
Per chi vorrebbe provare la demo pre-alpha, ha la possibilità di farlo iscrivedosi o accedendo all'Humble Monthly, il servizio di abbonamento mensile della piattaforma Humble Bundle.
Vi lasciamo al comunicato ufficiale (in inglese), le prime immagini e al trailer di annuncio.
"FROZENBYTE UNVEILS NEW GAME AND IP: SHADWEN
Return of true stealth games; sneaking not optional
Helsinki, Finland - 4th of December 2015 Finnish game developer Frozenbyte has unveiled its upcoming stealth action adventure game Shadwen, bringing the stealth genre back to its roots after years of gung-ho ridden action blasters and yearly revisions.
Shadwen is a true stealth game where the only rule is to remain unseen. Stay hidden - or the ruthless guards will kill you on sight!
"The stealth genre has been in a slump for years. Guns blazing and invincible heroes is not stealth. Yearly revisions like sports roster updates is a crap way of doing games", says Lauri Hyvärinen, CEO of Frozenbyte. "Shadwen will bring the genre back to its roots, with sneaking and hiding the main course of action. We will also explore the moral consequences of killing through our characters".
Shadwen, an assassin on a quest to kill the king, has a chance encounter with a little orphaned girl, Lily. She follows Shadwen on her dangerous journey, but when the ruthless guards get too close, Shadwen must take action right in front of Lily's eyes. Will she resort to violence and let Lily witness her crimes, or can she find another way and protect the child's innocence?
To kill or not to kill - that is the question.
FEATURES
* Stay hidden - avoid detection and guards, who will ruthlessly kill you upon capture. * Time is an accomplice - time stands still when you are not controlling Shadwen, allowing you to stop at any point: mid-motion, during jumps, right before a guard sees you. * Carefully rewind time to manipulate your past and present actions to gain an upper hand on the guards. Make precision movements to nail each move and try different strategies for the ultimate solution. * Pick your assassinations carefully. Avoid being seen, heard or getting caught indirectly. Suspicious sights and noises will alert the guards - use it to your benefit. * Sneak and explore around the dark and gritty medieval province and use the environment to your advantage - use your rope to grapple onto rooftops, silently drop from ceilings, or veil yourself in the shadows. * Use physics and a freely attachable rope to drag and topple objects. Make deaths look accidental; let gravity do the grave work. * Set up traps and hazards to lure guards towards their untimely demise; discover new ways to eliminate or distract your foes by crafting items into deadly surprises, including poison traps, spike devices, smoke bombs and more. * Lethal and non-lethal solutions - choose your play style but remember: actions have consequences. * Become a true god of stealth and protect Lily's innocence - complete the game with no bodies left behind.
The official website for the game is at http://shadwen.com. An exclusive pre-alpha demo sneak peek of Shadwen is available right now to subscribers of Humble Monthly, Humble Bundle's monthly game subscription service. Shadwen will be available in 2016 with more information to follow".