F.E.A.R, No One Lives Forever Vets Unveil Betrayer

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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F.E.A.R, No One Lives Forever Vets Unveil Betrayer

Betrayer is a monochromatic first-person action-adventure game set in an abandoned 17th-century English colony on the Viriginia coast.

Described as "an eerie and atmospheric first-person action-adventure game," Betrayer puts players in the shoes of an English colonist in the New World. Arriving on these shores, however, you find not a flourishing colony but "ghosts and mysteries in a land drained of color and life." Literally drained of color, too: The whole game, aside from the occasional flourish of red, will be rendered in black and white. You must piece together the story of the colony's downfall and find a way to put it right while being hunted by "corrupted Conquistadors and ravening shadows."

Betrayer is the first project in the works at Blackpower Games, an indie studio founded by former members of Monolith Productions, whose previous credits include Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, No One Lives Forever and F.E.A.R. "We wanted to get back to crafting games more intuitively," Creative Director Craig Hubbard said. "There's a sense of discovery and excitement when you navigate by instinct rather than market research and open yourself up to opportunities that arise during development."

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The trailer makes Betrayer look like a shooter but the screens suggest that there will be more to it than just blasting the crap out of everything that moves. It looks very promising, and despite the announcement just coming out now, the adventurous among you won't have to wait long to check it out: Betrayer is slated to launch as an Early Access title on Steam later this month.

Source: Blackpowder Games [http://www.blackpowdergames.com/betrayer/]


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Korten12

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Aug 26, 2009
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Honestly it looks like a Skyrim mod... Or maybe that's just me...
 

AnthrSolidSnake

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It looks very harsh on the eyes. I mean, I guess in a way it's meant to be like that? I just can't see myself playing this for any long period of time. But it is nice to see some of the original memebers that worked on the first F.E.A.R., one of my favorite FPSs, work on something else.
 

schtingah

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Jun 1, 2011
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that trailer hurt my eyes, and I can imagine that enemies might blend a little too easy into the background with that art style. The trailer also makes it look like a really boring shooter, but as the article pointer out there is more to it apparently.

So I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt just on their previous titles but I'm not really looking forward to this one.
 

Vigormortis

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Seems like an interesting enough, if at least unique, setting and premise. Art direction could make for an interesting twist.

However, I don't see this as a game one could play for any extended period of time. The high-contrast monochrome imagery will be very tough on the eyes.

Still, I enjoyed the teams previous works while they were with Monolith. So I'll at least give this one an intrigued look.
 

Mike Richards

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Nov 28, 2009
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Conceptually it's hardly an original aesthetic, but you can't deny the results. The visuals are looking pretty impressive. It looks like there's a lot of detail in the environments for being monochrome, especially since it doesn't appear to be going for an overtly cartoonish look like Mad World.

I'll have to wait for a bit more gameplay to know if I'm fully on board, but for now consider me very interested.

Korten12 said:
Honestly it looks like a Skyrim mod... Or maybe that's just me...
Actually I can kind of see what you mean. But it's kinda funny you say that when the original FEAR always felt like the world's greatest Half Life mod to me. That's not a knock against FEAR, I fucking loved it, but for some reason it's always had that atmosphere to it.
 

Owyn_Merrilin

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It's definitely nice to see some of the guys who made all those great old Monolith games making something aside from horror-ish FPS games. I mean yes, they did both F.E.A.R. and Blood, but they also did No One Lives Forever, Shogo, and Tron 2.0. They were not "that dev that does horror FPS games" until F.E.A.R. did so well this gen, so it's nice to see some of their other talents being used for once.

Edit: and I realise this looks like it may be horror focused as well, but it's also something new and different, not yet another re-hash of F.E.A.R., which was great, but I'd like to see something new.

Edit Edit: Better way of putting this, as I said on Facebook:

This could be good. Monolith was always one of my favorite devs, but they've gotten so corporate since F.E.A.R. took off. It's nice to see these guys working on passion projects again.
 

Zulnam

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Feb 22, 2010
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Looks good, considering the little we've seen.

Don't know why people are complaining about the graphics, though; I looked at the trailer and didn't feel any pain or fatigue. Might also be a monitor brightness/contrast thing. Hope they leave it like it is.
 

Machine Man 1992

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Jul 4, 2011
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Well, this is the arty-est game I've ever seen. All it needs now is a minimalist soundtrack, and a pretentious story steeped in obscurity and metaphor and we have a guaranteed critical darling.
 

l3o2828

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Mar 24, 2011
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Why not do a spiritual succesor to NOLF?...That would be nice, wouldn't it?

But yeah, i'm not digging the monochrome, it doesn´t seem implemented well...it hurts my eyes a little, but i'll make sure to play it, these guys know how to make decent shooters anyways.
 

piinyouri

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Mar 18, 2012
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I think the monochrome works artistically and stylistically, but it's too harsh on my eyes for me to ever be able to play this.

I'm starting to think I have very sensitive eyes since I had a similar problem with Blood Dragon that kept me from playing it.
 

octafish

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Apr 23, 2010
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The trailer doesn't exactly jump out and say this will be a great game, but 'lith used to be one of my favorite devs, so I will reserve judgement until we see a finished product. Still I will be filing away the name Blackpowder Games.
 

unstabLized

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Mar 9, 2012
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l3o2828 said:
Why not do a spiritual succesor to NOLF?...That would be nice, wouldn't it?

But yeah, i'm not digging the monochrome, it doesn´t seem implemented well...it hurts my eyes a little, but i'll make sure to play it, these guys know how to make decent shooters anyways.
Another NOLF would be fantastic, love both NOLF 1 and 2, was a barrel of laughs.
 

KoudelkaMorgan

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Jul 31, 2009
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I like the idea of black and white, and I've seen plenty of great old films with no problems. The graphics in the trailer however were migraine inducing. Such a heavy emphasis on thick jet black, and stark white is just unpleasant.

I would use a bit more grey, and proper lighting because at it is now it looks like they are going for a Sin City aesthetic and failing miserably.

I lack the precise background knowledge of what exactly is off about the lighting in the trailer, but I do know that it isn't quite right. Though its likely just a side effect of all of us being surrounded by color and then suddenly looking at images devoid of it and at such an unnaturally high contrast.

I'm sure after an hour, one of two things would happen. We would get used to it, or much like with the Virtual Boy's similar 2 tone visual nightmare we would want to claw the eyes from our head and vomit.

As to the content of the trailer itself, out of context I find nothing in it that piques my interest.

Seeing what I assume are enemies zerg rushing me in the exact same brainless fashion from every indistinguishable patch of darkness doesn't seem like the best way to show off your game.
 

Metalrocks

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Jan 15, 2009
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could be an interesting thing to play, but already watching the trailer it made my eyes hurt a bit. but i will keep an eye on it. call me interested. if the price is alright and maybe even a playable demo, i will give it a try.