Kathy Rain fella's Whispers Of A Machine heard in April
Sci-phwoar
A cybernetically-enhanced futurecop is on the trail of several strange murders in Whispers Of A Machine, an adventure game collaboration between Kathy Rain creator Joel Hästö and The Samaritan Paradox maker Petter Ljungqvis. It'll launch on April 17th, publishers Raw Fury announced today, which is doubly welcome news because I'd entirely forgotten about it since it was announced two years ago despite enjoying Kathy Rain. Solving futuremurder with technobits and, frankly, a copy of my haircut circa 2013? I'm in.
Raw Fury have explained a fair bit of the game's setting and setup but, to preserve a little mystery, I'll leave that link there for people who want it and simply blast the blurb:
"Whispers of a Machine is a Sci-Fi Nordic Noir that tells the story of Vera, a cybernetically augmented special agent tasked with investigating a string of murders. These brutal killings obscure a sinister truth, as Vera soon finds ties to a group of fanatics committed to creating an AI superintelligence — a pursuit outlawed for nearly a century.
"Complicating things, a great loss from Vera's past comes back to haunt her, making her question her own sanity and everything she stands for."
Always with the complications from the past. I do like the talk of puzzles having multiple solutions, shaped by which augs Vera grows proficient with. The broad stances (and yes, we do see specific dialogue rather than stances) seem to be "empathetic, analytical, or assertive," to which I say: why not all three? I might point to BioWare's RPGs as an apparent influence, like in Unavowed - where it worked well.
Whispers Of A Machine is coming to Steam on April 17th for Windows and Mac. No word on the price yet.
Do see our John's Kathy Rain review for a sense of some of the talent behind Whispers Of A Machine. Brr. Even thinking about the names Whispers and Kathy Rain together is giving me the horrible ASMR tingle that feels like spiders hatching out your neck. I understand some people are into being devoured from the inside by swarming arthropods.