In Space Stations, Screaming Is Audible: Solarix

Cor, what's with all the horror games of late? Amnesia: AMFP, Outlast, other ones... isn't real life scary enough? Doesn't the arrival of a brown, windowed envelope stamped with "Her Majesty" frighten people sufficiently? Of course, that's the point, isn't it? False scares, unreal fears, make for an excellent emotional misdirection from the scares reality has to offer. So once more you can distract yourself from the terrifying nature of reality with the forthcoming Solarix. A first-person sci-fi horror by indies Pulsetense Games.

The trailer, at this point, is clearly just a tech demo. But it's looking very impressive - built with Unreal 3, those are some decent sci-fi vistas. It's a shame they're not really showing anything of the game itself, but rather drifting a camera through a few locations while playing angry music.

When we get to the game itself, it will apparently be following the tale of an electrical engineer on this "off-planet colony", trying to stay alive. They say it will have an emphasis on stealth, but make the rather rookie error of citing their inspirations as (and thereby drawing comparison with) Thief and Dishonored. Don't do that, first-time indies. Don't do that. But then they go on to explain how they want to offer more than jumps, and explore feelings of unease and insecurity. I return to my opening paragraph! They say,

"Central to both story and gameplay are the monsters—human, yet totally inhuman—as well as the level design—humbling in scale and filled with detail—both of which are integral to the overall atmosphere of isolation and desperation."

No word on a release date yet, but they're looking at some time next year.