Three One Zero has partnered up with publisher 505 Games to bring the indie studio’s debut game, Adr1ft, to PC and consoles in mid-2015.
From the press release:
ADR1FT is an immersive First Person Experience (FPX) that tells the story of an astronaut in peril. Floating silently amongst the wreckage of a destroyed space station with no memory and a severely damaged EVA suit, the only survivor struggles to determine the cause of the catastrophic event that took the lives of everyone on board. The player fights to stay alive by exploring the wreckage for precious resources, and overcomes the challenges of an unforgiving environment to repair the damaged emergency escape vehicle and safely return home.
Sound vaguely familiar? Yep, so Adr1ft clearly seems to be pulling at least some inspiration from last year’s award-winning feature film, Gravity.
Apparently, the game was also born from the recent personal experiences of Three One Zero founder, Adam Orth. I don’t pay attention to the petty Internet drama that seeps out of social media and makes for great hit-grabbing, controversy-stirring headlines on pretty much every other game website and blog, but from what I understand Orth used to work at Microsoft, and at some point before the Xbox One was even officially announced he stirred up a Twitter hornet’s nest with some brash comments in favor of always-online technology. Soon after he was gone from Microsoft and public life in general as the angry, prepubescent Internet mob even began lobbing death threats at Orth and his family.
On a deeper level, Adr1ft‘s story of “action, consequence and redemption” is a metaphor for Orth’s recent situation, forcing the player to consider how the choices he or she makes within the game parallel those made in real life.
I don’t care about any of the backstory nonsense. I care about whether or not the game will be any good, and right now I’d say Adr1ft is on the right path to delivering an immersive and evocative non-violent experience.
This does look interesting. I’d be curious to see how this compares to Gone Home. I wonder how much of the “choice and consequence” is divergent vs a linear path that forces gameplay toward one conclusion regardless of choice.