Ever since Ken Levine disbanded Irrational Games we’ve all been waiting to see what the BioShock developers would come up with away from the hugely popular series. Now we have that answer, and it wasn’t quite what we were expecting.
The Deep End Games, a studio formed almost exclusively from members of Irrational Games (along with a smattering of devs who worked upon the Dead Space series), has unveiled a Kickstarter page for Perception, a brand new “narrative horror adventure” that places players in the shoes of a blind woman named Cassie who must solve puzzles and escape from a deadly presence by using her hearing alone.
Cassie’s knowledge of her surroundings is formed entirely by what she can hear, with a dripping tap allowing her to “see” a bathtub, and the chiming of a Grandfather clock allowing her to successfully navigate around a room.
Perception will allow players to make noise themselves in what The Deep End Games is branding “Echolocation.” Armed with only a cane and her smartphone, Cassie is tasked with successfully making her way through the game’s eerie abandoned mansion setting (is there any other form of mansion in video games?) by making noise – the problem with this is that she desperately doesn’t want the aforementioned deadly presence to hear her.
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It’s a unique concept, and while BioShock certainly delved into the horror genre, particularly in the first entry in the series, this doesn’t appear to share many similarities with Irrational Games’ franchise. With that being said, the game will also seemingly the BioShock devs’ love of American history being rekindled, with Perception set to take place over a multitude of different time periods.
The Kickstarter project has a $150,000 goal set, and you’d have to believe with a pedigree as good as The Deep End Games’, they’ll reach that goal sooner rather than later.
Pledging $20 will ensure that you’ll receive a digital download of the game upon release, and if $350,000 is raised the devs will implement VR support. Check out the game’s Kickstarter page here.
Watch its announcement trailer below: