08 November, 2013

Stasis - A South African indie game


Stasis is a 2-D, 'point and click' adventure game, created by Chris Bischoff, and presented in an isometric view. The story is set in the not too distant future, and follows John Maracheck as he explores the derelict research vessel, Groomlake, which appears to be mostly abandoned. 


For a game being put together by an independent developer only during his spare time in the evenings and over weekends, the visuals for Stasis look absolutely astounding. You can tell that Bischoff, and the the rest of The Brotherhood are passionate about the project. The Brotherhood has launched a Kickstarter project in order to raise sufficient funds to make this sci-fi horror game a reality. Stasis has been under development for three years already, which probably accounts for why it looks so damn good. 

If you're still not convinced, and want to see more, you can download the alpha demo for yourself and give it a go. I downloaded it last night, and only spent about 15 minutes wandering around the Groomlake, accessing the odd computer terminal, and reading some of the background information.

I was quite blown away by just how good this looks, and it is evident from several interviews (scroll down for links) with Bischoff that he has a clear vision for how the storyline will pan out. Apparently the alpha demo will take between 1 to 2 hours to complete, depending on your familiarity with 'point and click' style games. I'll spend more time exploring the Groomlake during the next week, and depending on the experience will depend on how much I pledge to the project. The sculpture looks great, but at $449, the Definitive Edition reward is a little out of my league. Even the $78 Classic Edition is a bit much, so I may just settle for the Digital or Expanded Editions, even though I do like physical copies over digital downloads. Alternatively I could wait to see if a post-Kickstarter physical package of the game is released.

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