Synaesthesia Announced

Former Fallout Tactics artist Gareth “Section8” Davies has announced plans to independently develop a new horror-themed RPG entitled Synaesthesia. A few initial details:

What is the game?

Synaesthesia is a horror-themed RPG focused on an ensemble cast and the evolution of a narrative created through the player’s actions and the supporting cast’s reactions. It’s Lost meets Silent Hill, with thirteen strangers imprisoned inside a twisted nightmare world, and relying on each other to survive and possibly escape. The game is presented as a digital graphic novel, and focuses only on significant/enjoyable content, keeping downtime “out of frame”.

Why create this game?

This is the game I was born to make. It’s the outlet for my passion of game development, with the freedom that being an indie developer can provide. It is born out of over twenty years of gaming (research) and countless discussions of design. That and a very big part of me wants to prove that a game can take advantage of the strengths of the CRPG medium without straying from P&P roots, and without insulting the intelligence of the end user. Synaesthesia is an attempt to be a CRPG done right – nothing too wildly unfamiliar, just a collection and evolution of the high points of the genre.

Where does the game take place?

The game takes place in a “broken” facsimile of the real world. Imagine a tangent world, split from the early 20th century, but continuing to imitate progress using the existing technology of the time. In that way, the world is full of familiar objects, nearly all of which are perverse replicas – the fantastic science of Wells or Verne shaped to look something like our own 21st century world. The “smaller picture” sees the player within the well-appointed hamlet of Wardenclyffe inside this twisted gameworld.