Miasmata, a game where you are the prey

[Tollbooth Willie]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...youre-being-stalked-by-one-persistent-monster

Sounds really f*cking great. Constantly being stalked across a huge island by a quadrupedal monster. Trailer in the link.

Since Miasmata is so heavily based around one creature's AI there's been a lot of attention given to this aspect. "He responds to sounds, smell, and has a vision-cone," Bob Johnson explained to Eurogamer. "You can duck behind trees and rocks and things, and you can also hide in tall grasses and bushes. Objects on the ground have different properties, so if you step on some crunchy sticks or leaves, he may become more aware of you."
When asked if you'll have any way to fight back, Bob responded, "The creature is invincible, but you will have to fight him sometimes in order to get an opportunity to flee. You can use rocks, sticks, knives, torches, etc. to attack him. This may scare him away for awhile. You can also throw objects in another direction and that may distract him. You'll throw a torch, for example, and his head will follow it and he may go investigate it. He'll become progressively more dangerous as you go through the game."

Outside of evasion, explorations will play a key role as players will have to use landmarks to determine their position on the giant island. "There are notes and little hand-drawn maps the player will discover that begin to populate points-of-interest on the player's map," Bob explained. These can be used to triangulate one's position and reveal a small portion of the map. "Once the player's triangulated himself, he can then sight 'unknown' landmarks in the distance. If he sights an 'unknown' landmark from two different vantage points, that landmark will then become 'known', and thus revealed on the map."
It's a very ambitious game and Bob Johnson estimated it will take most players about 12 hours to complete.
Miasmata has already been greenlit on Steam Greenlight and will be released on GOG as well for PC on 28th November.

 

[Maestro]

This looks ****ing hoss. Someone else should play and review it so I don't have to risk my money on whether this is actually good.

 

[Krynn72]

This looks ****ing hoss. Someone else should play and review it so I don't have to risk my money on whether this is actually good.

 

[morgs]

The idea sounded great, but I was hoping the monster would be a little more creepy.

The default FOV is terrible, I got a headache just watching that video.

 

[ríomhaire]

I up voted it on Greenlight. That makes me important. The developer should probably be paying me to play it really.

 

[Krynn72]

Part 2. This one shows a lot more of the gameplay, now thats he's figured stuff out. Thanks to me, that is! I'm pretty much famous now, I was mentioned twice in a youtube video.

 

[morgs]

'ave ye seen that ma'riss? I'm not sleepin' on tha' there's ne'way!

I love listening to this guy.

 

[dfc05]

Game actually looks pretty good. I like the exploration and medicinal flower stuff, but hate the feeling of being chased/stalked in games, partly why I won't play Amnesia.

 

[morgs]

I don't think there is a tutorial, you have to figure these things out yourself.

Please post Mesh's future videos here, because I am too lazy to search for them!

 

[Krynn72]

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

I'll wait for a ~$2 sale. Looks fun as hell but I'm awfully impatient and have no sense of direction. Fun videos though.

 

[morgs]

With every video I'm waiting for the beast to appear. Does it starting hunting you at a specific time, or is it random?

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Unless the monster is meant to fit in with some sort of ancient civilization/Aztec/Mayan theme I haven't seen or heard about in the game, I'm gonna have to say the monster is one of the ugliest, most poorly designed looking things I've seen. Doesn't help it's just sitting there on the steam page.

 

[kineaesth]

Unless the monster is meant to fit in with some sort of ancient civilization/Aztec/Mayan theme I haven't seen or heard about in the game, I'm gonna have to say the monster is one of the ugliest, most poorly designed looking things I've seen. Doesn't help it's just sitting there on the steam page.

???

 

[Stigmata]

Unless the monster is meant to fit in with some sort of ancient civilization/Aztec/Mayan theme I haven't seen or heard about in the game, I'm gonna have to say the monster is one of the ugliest, most poorly designed looking things I've seen. Doesn't help it's just sitting there on the steam page.

The monster itself is the main reason I haven't bought this game yet.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

???

jesus christ don't touch me

 

[ShinRa]

Looks a bit different in game. Still a little too cartoony for my taste. I'm not really afraid of it at all, as much as I am annoyed when it's around and I have to stop doing what I'm doing to hide or hit it with rocks.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Nah. Was expecting something a little more terrifying based on the description of it being a lumbering, predatory animal. Like I said though, if they're going for some ancient creature you'd see in Aztec imagery or something, cool. It fits that look. But it isn't a very appealing monster otherwise. It just looks really off.

 

[ríomhaire]

I see what RJ means though. Lots of old mythological animal drawing look pretty ridiculous. I think it matches up with the general feel of some ones I've seen before pretty well.

 

[morgs]

I was hoping for something more...paranormal. Something you couldn't easily hide from or scare off. Something that kept you moving.

 

[kineaesth]

It's a black and white saber toothed tiger with frills

edit: quite unrelated, but looking at the list of achievements on the steam store page for this game is pretty bizarre

I've been wondering recently who chooses the achievements on Steam - Valve's seem very identifiable as by Valve, but a lot of other games have really odd choices. I'm interested to know if it was the developers of this game who chose those, because they seem very at odds with the style and mood of the game

 

[ríomhaire]

I think Valve give free reign to developers to do as they wish with achievements. They do seem a bit at odds with the tone of the game but many the devs were just sick of being serious when they threw them in? I think if I play this I'll turn off the overlay though. Nothing as mood breaking as slowly climbing to the top of a tall peak, soaking in the beauty of the world around you and having a little popup: Crazy Climber! Glenn is now playing Dota2!