Few video games more historically important or influential than 1998's PC revelation, Half-Life. Radically changing the industry's views and experiences on story telling, immersion and environment, the influence this game has is still being felt and given due respect today.
The latest game to site Half-Life as an influence, is an intriguing two dimensional exploration action game, Hidden Deep. Published by Daedalic Entertainment, the game is remarkably made by just one person, Łukasz Kałuski.
Hidden Deep tasks players with controlling a crew of 4 members, who are sent deep beneath the ocean to locate and assess what happened to a previous group, who's last known contact was over a troubling 681 days ago. Players will have to contend with exploring the unknown, utilizing gadgets and vehicles to overcome the inhospitable environment, deadly creatures of the dark, and an ever looming mystery of where they are and what exactly has transpired around this intrepid crew. The game looks to have some truly scary moments that may rival even some of the best horror games of 2020, as a seemingly aggressive alien collective is inhabiting this mysterious underground labyrinth.
Other than citing Half-Life as an inspiration, Łukasz Kałuski has also publicly stated that the game shares inspiration from classic science fiction properties Alien and The Thing. All of this atmosphere seems to be cleverly married with environmental story telling, a fascinating mystery to solve and plenty of pulse pounding action and suspense.
Publisher Daedalic Entertainment is currently working on releasing the highly anticipated and high profile Lord Of The Rings: Gollum, which speaks volumes to the company's faith in this smaller but still equally fascinating title. It will be interesting to see if both the attention from a previous high profile release and inspiration from some of the greatest franchises in all of media can attract a large fanbase for this new nerve racking adventure.
Hidden Deep releases on PC this year.