The makers of STASIS, the cyber-gothic adventure game which Alec thought was just dandy, have revealed their new game, Beautiful Desolation [official site]. We don t know much except that it will be set in a post-apocalyptic Africa in which giraffes have grotesque bulb heads (see above to recoil in horror), but we do have this short trailer and more news on their free follow-up to STASIS.
I thought Stasis [official site] was a mostly excellent gothic sci-fi pointer-clickerer, a few frustrating mid-game puzzles and its lack of support for high resolutions aside. My first world problems couldn’t hold an eerily flickering candle to those faced by protagonist John Maracheck in his nightmarish bio-horror trek across a System Shockish spaceship, of course. Unsurprisingly, South African devs The Brotherhood are working on a follow-up. Surprisingly, it’s going to be free. And also has full resolution support, which my monitor would be delighted about, in the event it somehow achieved sentience and didn’t then decide to kill me. … [visit site to read more]
The highlights of this 22nd century tale are almost too numerous to detail: There’s a rich backstory of human corruption to unearth, but also a surprising number of individual stories to delve into - each with its own personal perspective. The sprawling levels of the near-derelict research ship the Groomlake are gorgeously presented using the criminally-underused isometric viewpoint, the soundscape is thoroughly authentic, the music sparse but atmospheric, the interface stylish and cleverly implemented (including the why-don’t-more-games-do-this conceit of displaying full text commentary when simply hovering over hotspots – why waste mouse clicks?), and the puzzles slickly integrated into a very intuitive gameplay experience.
We could go on, but you get the idea. A whopping five years in the making by largely one man, STASIS may not be without flaws, but it’s a thoroughly compelling adventure that everyone should play. Chris Bischoff has given himself a ridiculously hard act to follow, taking home our much-deserved Game of the Year Aggie Award for 2015, but here’s hoping that we see plenty more from this talented developer in future.