Blue Planet II inspires undersea explorer Beyond Blue

The beautiful BBC wildlife documentary series Blue Planet II has inspired a new game from E-Line Media, the publishers behind Iñupiaq folklore doc-u-platformer Never Alone. Named Beyond Blue, the collaboration will dive into the ocean on a near-future research and exploration mission. It'll have a documentary side too, with footage from Blue Planet II and chat from real-world ocean researchers. But most importantly, it seems to involve a whole lot of admiring sealife. See the announcement trailer below.

Let me swim through that swirling fish ball. I must probe that fish ball. Research.

The announcement laid out the premise:

"Set in the near future, players will probe the mysteries of our ocean through the eyes of Mirai, the lead on a newly formed research team that will use groundbreaking technologies to see, hear, and sense the ocean in a more meaningful way than has ever been attempted. The game will involve both a rich story and resource management, challenging the player to make high-stakes decisions and prioritize which objectives can be successfully achieved during the crew's expedition."

My priorities are clear: look at fish, and probe that fish ball. For science. Clearly I intend to naff off from the mission to look at sealife as much as possible. You'd hope the game would allow for idle whalewatching.

Beyond Blue is scheduled to launch on Windows, Mac, and Linux via Steam, at least, in "early 2019". It's a collaboration between BBC Studios, Auntie's commercial arm, and E-Line Media. See Beyond Blue's site for more.

If you fancy undersea exploration before then, Subnautica is a delightful dive into an alien ocean. Read our Subnautica review, follow the trails of the sea treaders, visit Pip's volcano base, learn why it has no guns, and hit its website for more on that wonder. A good video game.

Check out our E3 2018 tag for more announcements, trailers, news, and goodness knows what else.