First breadcrumb is deployed. Now it is just a matter of waiting…— Thomas Grip (@ThomasGrip) September 27, 2013
Frictional Games’ placeholder website will reveal its latest project once it completes an exceedingly slow progress bar.
Frictional Games is known for a particular style of horror, specifically the kind where you avoid monsters in the dark and communicate with various disembodied voices. Not that there’s anything wrong with covering familiar territory, Amnesia: The Dark Descent greatly improved on Penumbra‘s formula after all, but it does make one wonder whether their next project will be more of the same. It’s too early to tell just yet, but if the company’s updated teaser website is anything to go on, Frictional might be switching to sci-fi horror in the vein of System Shock 2.
The website, NextFrictionalGame.com, offers very little in the way of substantial information. The system error message “Booting system after unexpected shutdown” is prominently displayed, followed by a progress bar that’s only achieved 40% as of writing. In the bottom right corner is distorted text that a few observers think reads “cogito ergo sum”. If your Latin is shaky, that translates to “I think, therefore I am”, a famous quote from philosopher René Descartes. Given the website’s error message, I suspect Frictional is teasing a game dealing with a recently awakened sentient AI, a significant shift from the company’s previous horror outings.
It’s not entirely clear what makes the progress bar increase, whether visitor hits or simply time itself. Frictional’s creative director Thomas Grip isn’t helping, merely teasing that the “first breadcrumb is deployed” on his Twitter account. Once the bar reaches 100%, we’ll have more to go on, but feel free to offer rampant speculation until then!
Source: Next Frictional Game, via Joystiq
Published: Sep 28, 2013 04:15 pm