Variable State has announced Deepest Fear, a science-fiction horror first-person shooter with Metroidvania-style exploration set deep beneath the ocean’s surface. It will be available for PC via Steam. A release date was not announced.
Here is an overview of the game, via Variable State:
About
Deepest Fear is a science-fiction horror first-person shooter with a retro-future aesthetic. Deep beneath the ocean, a long dormant secret has been unearthed which throws mankind’s future into jeopardy. As Dr. Danni Carrol, fight your way to the heart of a secret project masterminded by your estranged father and uncover mysteries both deeply personal and terrifying in their implications. Using real time fluid simulation, fight otherworldly entities which manifest spontaneously from any water source, all while the environment around you can flood and take in water at any moment, sweeping you away with unpredictable currents. Deepest Fear combines Metroidvania level design in the context of a classic FPS immersive sim, where the game’s setting is a puzzle to unravel and where creativity and improvisation are your greatest assets.
Channeling the spirit of iconic and subversive 1980s horror action films such as The Abyss, The Thing, The Fly, and Total Recall, and more broadly the cinematic canons of James Cameron, John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, and Paul Verhoven, Deepest Fear aims to stay true to our inspirations’ blend of visceral horror, vivid characterization, and confrontational storytelling. And in the realm of interactivity, our thoughts are never far from titles such as Metroid Prime, Half-Life 2, System Shock 2, and Dead Space.
Story
Deep beneath the ocean, something has awakened.
In an attempt to unravel the mysteries of our ancient origins, Dr. Danni Carroll’s father has unlocked a dark force at the bottom of the ocean which has lain dormant for untold eons. Now it is awake and curious and hungry.
Pressed into service by military forces who have lost control of their most dangerous asset, Danni is sent to the bottom of the ocean in the hope of locating her estranged father and putting an end to his selfish designs.
Far from safety, where the prospect of rescue is an impossibility, Danni will have to kill to survive, wielding improvised tools and exotic technology to combat a threat which defies all logic and description, and which is resolute in its primordial intent.
Your survival is a luxury. Whatever secrets you uncover in the course of exploring the decaying infrastructure of the Neptune, whatever unprecedented obstacles you must overcome as you move ever-closer to the poisoned heart of this forsaken project, the future of the human race will be determined by the decisions you make over the coming hours.
Key Features
- Fear the Water – Steel your nerves against the darkness, as terrifying creatures dynamically spawn from any water source, as real time fluid simulation creates unpredictable, emergent horror scenarios, and as an oppressive, decaying facilities collapses around you, threatening to suffocate you in the ocean depths.
- Take a Deep Breath—It Could Be Your Last – Use your wits, technology, and firearms to fight a tide of terrors, and make it out alive.
- Unravel the Mysteries of This Unsettling Retro-Futurist World – Plunge into the original setting of Neptune, a clandestine facility in the unexplored depths of the ocean, immaculately rendered using the power of Unreal Engine 5. Encounter a rich cast of inhabitants in a world scarred by fear and mistrust.
Watch the announcement trailer below. View the first screenshots at the gallery.