A Promising Future for Sci-fi Horror Game Pamela
Pamela showed up on my radar a few weeks ago when a trailer depicting a beautifully rendered dystopian future city promised both survival and horror in equal measure. I recently looked into this game being developed by a small team of 4 calling themselves NVYVE studios, and must say that if they can live up to their lofty goals, this might just be a gem in the making.
Taking place in the future city of Eden, a mysterious affliction is causing the citizen’s bones to contort and grow, turning them into hideous monsters. It is unclear how players arrive on the scene or fit into the story, but they are aided by Eden’s sentient AI, the eponymous Pamela. Trapped on the station, Pamela serves as the player’s guide to the world, and I’d be willing to bet she ends up being more Cortana than just a tutorial.
Reminiscent of the themes of Bioshock, the similarities stop there. This ruined utopia isn’t a linear experience, and it is unclear at this point what the end goal even is. The game promises progression in an open world, but whether this will lead to some kind of endgame is still unknown. What is promised is a massive amount of lore and backstory to uncover, as well as various weapons and body modifications that can be collected to increase your chances at survival. As the hideous afflicted residents stick to the shadows, restoring power to certain areas will keep you safer at night when they come out to hunt.
A day and night cycle keeps things tense, as the ever looming nightfall brings out the worst of the afflicted. The game promises “horror at any time of the day,” so I’d be willing to bet this comes out something like dying light, where the daytime afflicted are the most human and nighttime the least. That is interesting is that they have promised that not all the afflicted will be enemies. Each will have their own motives and level of mental degradation, so whether they will be curious about you, attack you, or simply ignore you is up in the air. An interesting concept, and I’m curious to see how they deliver on it.
Probably the most lofty promise is their goal to create a living world. This is a survival game in the modern vein, so you will be expected to scrounge for food, water, and a place to sleep. Supplies are limited on Eden, and they state on their website that the afflicted will all need to scrounge for supplies to survive, consuming resources. This is something we haven’t really seen before, since it is difficult to implement both scarcity and have a large enough abundance of resources to actually supply all of the NPCs’ needs. I’d be willing to bet it comes out something like Dying Light, where loot containers respawn after a set time and distance, as they have stated that the game is not procedurally generated.
Even though it is a unity title, the game looks very good so far, with a unique sci-fi feel and an immersive UI. Statuses, ammo, time, and other information is depicted on displays integrated into your “AARM,” so think the pip-boy from Fallout mixed with the ammo and health hologram display in Dead Space. The term I’ve used for this for a long time is an integrated hud, since there’s nothing to take you out of the idea that it is all within the game world.
Weapons are also unconventional. They state that wars have long since stopped being fought, so what is left is pacification devices for security forces. Whether this means that there won’t be guns at all or if they will just be scarce is unclear, but I’d be willing to bet that this is more just a statement that most of the weapons will be some kind of blue stun lasers. As long as it fits into the world and works, I’m okay battling with angry flashlights.
So open world survival future Bioshock with a Dead Space twist. Last time they made that, it was called System Shock 2, and it was amazing. This one isn’t coming out for a while, with a release goal of 2016, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some kind of playable alpha before that. This is the kind of game that goes perfectly on early access, where the experience of playing and surviving is more important than some kind of story mode with a start and a finish. Keep an eye out for it, and give the developers some love, because it looks good enough so far that I’d really like them to finish. Cross my fingers!
Categorized:Horror Gaming News
