I'm sure we all remember the debacle that happened when the Xbox One was originally announced. Remember how in a rage everyone was when it was announced the console would be online only? Remember when Adam Orth, then a creative director at Microsoft told everyone to "deal with it"? Remember the online backlash he received after that?
Well, Adam Orth is taking that incident and turning it into what looks like an absolutely beautiful game with an amazing narrative. 505 Games was kind enough to show us a closed door presentation of Adr1ft at PAX East and my jaw was on the floor the entire time.
In Adr1ft you play as an astronaut in space, floating through the wreckage of your destroyed space station. You as the player need to explore the space station to find out what happened, and to find your way back home. Of course this is easier said than done as there are tons of obstacles you will have to face on your journey. The game features a really cool mechanic where your health is constantly dropping as you play. Your health in the game is your oxygen meter and your space suit is in need of some serious repairs. You will need to find oxygen tanks constantly as you explore and you will also need to find areas where you can repair your suit. Of course with games like this, exploration is encouraged and while you explore, you will find audio logs that will give you more of the story.
Adam then told us that we could expect other dangers as well, such as needing to go into an electrical room with exposed wires to get to the next area. As you would expect, those wires are lethal. What about when you are floating in space, getting hit by debris could knock you off course and into the abyss where you will eventually suffocate. Speaking of space, there was one part where he actually entered space in order to get to another part of the destroyed space station and my jaw was on the floor. From what I have seen so far, everything just looks and sounds absolutely beautiful.
Watching the game on a giant movie theater screen was an amazing experience, the game looks absolutely gorgeous and while we only got to see a couple of areas, I cannot wait to see what the rest of the game looks like. I also cannot wait to find out the rest of the story. I feel like we need more narrative driven games like this. I love being told an amazing story, I love a game that pulls at all my emotions, I love a game that actually makes me think about the ending. I love going to discussion forums after I beat the game to discuss the story and the ending with others. I will absolutely keep a close eye on this game and will be picking up as soon as it's released later this year.
