Former Team Members of Metro 2033 and Stalker Start Kickstarter for Areal
Recently, West Games has announced their brand new project titled Areal. West Games is a studio made up of former designers who worked on the Metro and Stalker series. West Games promises that Areal will be one of the greatest post apocalyptic experiences, and it will combine the best elements from their previous work and more. Areal has been announced for Mac, PC, PS4, Wii U, and Xbox One with no specific release date for any platform.
The game will feature a brand new engine that gets rid of many technical limitation that other third party licensed engines impose. West Games said they chose to create a new engine in order to implement features that wouldn’t be possible in third party engines.
Based on the description, Areal sounds like a very involved game that will focus on the players choices.
“Areal’s story is not linear – players can choose how their characters act and speak – everything from how you talk to who you kill changes the storyline of Areal. There is no morality system in Areal, so you are free to make choices that you think are best in any given situation, without being blinded and limited by a standard good/evil system. “
The game also promises to have tactical orientated gameplay in order to match the realistic survival themes.
“Battles within the game are heavily influenced by many factors, which include your character’s traits, your choice of supplies and weaponry, your current surroundings, whether or not anomalies are present, the possible presence of mutants, and the usage of various metamorphites that serve to enhance and upgrade your abilities.”
Overall, the game looks like a more realized version of the Stalker series, and it is great to see the enthusiasm that the developers have over their new found freedom. In addition, West Games is also looking for fan input on the game and their many features. If you are interested in this game, I highly recommend that you support the kickstarter. Many smaller developers like West Games end up getting picked up by larger companies for financial safety. However, West Games has chosen to achieve their dreams on their own in order for them to be fully realized.
