Maneater is Jaws: The Game, and we're Jaws
S-s-s-shark!
After making teams of sharks fight teams of divers in multiplayer seafest Depth, creative director Alex Quick seems to have decided, you know what, stuff humans, sharks are way cooler; so his next game is solely about a giant shark eating everything in its path. Swimmers! Alligators! Fishermen! Whales! Sailors! Sunbathers! Developers Blindside Interactive and publishers Tripwire today announced Maneater, which is a--and I never thought I'd write this--singleplayer open-world action-RPG starring a ravenous shark. Sure, sure, sure, okay, gotcha. Here, watch the announcement trailer.
What's the backstory? I'm glad you asked. Apparently we were cut from our mother's body and left to die, and we're not best pleased. The blurb explains:
"Set in the unforgiving waters of the southern US Gulf Coast, players will fight to survive in rivers and streams as well as the open ocean, with danger lurking at every depth. Their only tools are their wits, their jaws, and an uncanny ability to evolve as they feed. Anything and everything is on the menu... kill or be killed. In this tale of revenge, players can take on the role of an ever-evolving shark and terrorize the coastal waterways, tearing swimmers and divers limb from limb, giving the humans a reason to fear what lies below."
TALE OF REVENGE! And yes, it's an action-RPG because you can "evolve" your shark with different stats and abilities.
2006 shark 'em up Jaws Unleashed proved a cult hit for, y'know, letting you be a shark and eat everything - despite being a well rubbo game. If Maneater is any good, it could be a right lark. Though, to be honest, I don't want all that gore and murder, I mostly want to zip through the pretty-looking sea and waterways.
No firm word yet on when Maneater is coming, but a Steam page is up for wishlisting purposes. See the game's site too. Developers Blindside Interactive are headed by Alex Quick, who was creative director on Depth at Digital Confectioners and is also the fella who created the original mod version of Killing Floor.
This is one of the first two games Tripwire are publishing with their newly-formed third-party publishing division.
Check out our E3 2018 tag for more announcements, trailers, news, and goodness knows what else.