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- I-Game Edinburgh: Russia is creating a project about Scotland with voice control
I-Game Edinburgh: Russia is creating a project about Scotland with voice control
The Russian team is working on the computer game The Dark Tale: Until You Awake. This is a single-player, story-driven adventure with elements of detective and survival in the foggy Scotland of the 1930s. According to the authors, the project has no analogues either in Russia or in the world, thanks to the new concept of meta-genres, voice control and several other functions unique to the domestic gaming industry. For more information, see the Izvestia article.
What is The Dark Tale game about?
The Russian studio Erathian Project is creating the game The Dark Tale: Until You Awake. According to the developers, the project is characterized by a high degree of immersiveness, that is, it conveys the effect of immersion in the gameplay.
— The Dark Tale is a single—player action adventure with elements of a detective story and a survival simulator set in the foggy Scotland of the 1930s. The plot is based on the classic story of a father who travels back in time to save his daughter in a mystical world with a quantum time loop. There are a lot of non-standard solutions in the game, from the concept of meta genres to voice control. There are no similar projects in the world, and this even hinders the creation of a business model," said Nikita Ankudinov, head of the studio and author of the project.
A frame from the game The Dark Tale: Until You Awake.
According to him, the team pursues several key goals in the development of its game. First, to create the effect of immersion in an expensive blockbuster, where the player has the opportunity to control events. This includes speech recognition technology, dialogues with other characters whose behavior mimics AI, moderate destructibility of the environment, and gameplay alternatives — the ability to perform the same tasks in different ways.
Secondly, the use of a metadetective and metaujastic approach. The authors clarify that The Dark Tale is based on the concept of genres, which takes into account the uniqueness of a particular player: his archetype, voice, playing style, choices, thinking, and more.
A frame from the game The Dark Tale: Until You Awake.
— The game looks like a mix of The Last of Us and Amnesia: Bunker. We will use additional information about the player and new technologies to make the mechanics deeper. For example, we have the ability to control two hands separately: one can hold a light source, such as a flashlight, and the other can hold a revolver. But voice control affects dialogues, interaction with objects, and even the artificial intelligence of opponents. If desired, the voice control option can be disabled," Nikita Ankudinov explained.
The full launch of the project is planned no earlier than 2027.
How the game is evaluated by experts
The project looks like a horror movie with an adventure component and a developed narrative, although little is known about the latter yet, said Oleg Dobroshtan, an expert in the gaming industry. Its popularity is difficult to predict, especially given the release of new games and their remakes in 2024, such as Silent Hill 2. Interesting two-handed control mechanics probably won't be a key factor in attracting gamers.
— The game resembles other representatives of the genre, including Silent Hill, Amnesia and Resident Evil. The balance between gameplay and plot is important to users, and the hero's story often becomes the main motive for completing the game. The main thing is that the Erathian Project has enough experience to create a fascinating story so that players don't get bored amid the competition in the genre," the expert noted.
A frame from the game The Dark Tale: Until You Awake.
Our domestic games have already established themselves on the world stage thanks to projects like Black Book, Atomic Heart or Pathologic. However, indie games (created by independent developers) remain an important part of the ecosystem, as they allow small teams to experiment with mechanics, storytelling, and visual style. Therefore, The Dark Tale demonstrates that even small projects can be competitive and interesting, says Mikhail Pimenov, Director of Development of the gaming industry at Synergy University.
— To justify their ambitions, the author needs to focus on the quality of the product, the uniqueness of the idea and effective promotion. If all these elements are executed at a high level, the game can not only gain recognition from players, but also inspire a new generation of developers. However, we need a twist that will allow it to stand out among many other horror films," Mikhail Pimenov summed up.
As Mikhail Lisetsky, director of the Streamfest and Game festivals, notes, hermetic horror with detective elements is a very understandable way from a business point of view to focus the audience's attention on itself.
A frame from the game The Dark Tale: Until You Awake.
— The public no longer wants to be scared in a simple way, and it is necessary to invent something. In other words, when you take on modern horror and expect success, you simply have to be an innovator, somehow stand out above the genre. And the games have a good reserve of possibilities.: AI mechanics are just beginning to really penetrate the gameplay, and voice control is also not a hackneyed technique. The authors of The Dark Tale take on board a good amount of innovations. It remains to make friends with them and not forget, in fact, to tell us a fascinating tale, justifying the name," said Mikhail Lisetsky.
IT expert Sergey Pomortsev is skeptical about the real possibilities of the game, but he noted that if the project receives positive feedback from a Western audience, it can show that Russian developers are able to create high-quality content.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
