Dark Matter Imagines a Modern Day Metroid

Cognimancer

Imperial Intelligence
Jun 13, 2012
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Dark Matter Imagines a Modern Day Metroid



Don't waste ammo, don't stop moving, and whatever you do, don't turn on the lights.

We haven't seen much lately from the "Metroidvania" school of game design - side-scrollers built around finding new gear that not only enhances your combat capabilities, but also lets you access new routes of exploration and progress that were previously unreachable. It's an old-school concept but Netherlands-based developer InterWave (creators of the oft-overlooked multiplayer gem Nuclear Dawn) is bringing it back with Dark Matter, which the studio describes as "a modern descendant of Metroid." Featuring an emphasis on challenge and tactics, Dark Matter tasks you with surviving an infestation of alien creatures that do not appreciate getting blinded by your flashlight.

The plot might not be terribly original, but Dark Matter spices things up with its dynamic light-based AI. Aliens are enraged by exposure to light and will come charging if you aren't careful with your flashlight, but sneaking around in darkness leaves you vulnerable to unseen attackers. Combat is unforgiving enough that you'll want to engage the enemies on your own terms, so you'll have to learn to balance light and darkness if you want to survive. Along the way you'll pick up a collection of upgradable weapons and equipment.

InterWave is Steam Greenlight campaign [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/interwave/dark-matter-1] is in progress for the PC release, though InterWave is offering the game as a DRM-free download as well.

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Louzerman102

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Mar 12, 2011
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Cognimancer said:
We haven't seen much lately from the "Metroidvania" school of game design
This might be a good time to shamelessly plug both Chasm and A.N.N.E, two games I found on Kickstarter that are also Metroidvania in style.
 

GodzillaGuy92

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Jul 10, 2012
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Aaaand sold. Just got finished pledging. The combat admittedly looks like a possible point of concern, but the setting, art style, and overall atmosphere is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for from a game like this. Fingers crossed that all goes well.
 

UberNoodle

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Apr 6, 2010
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Halyah said:
The Apple BOOM said:
Story aside, didn't we have a modern Metroid back in 2010?

Also, you forgot Antichamber.
Other M doesn't count. Never did and never will. <_<

Especially since so far it seems that -thing- killed the franchise...
Hmm, it wasn't a fantastic game, but it certainly wasn't as abysmal as so many gamers make out. Too many drama queens in our community bending reality.
 

major_chaos

Ruining videogames
Feb 3, 2011
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Louzerman102 said:
Oh god that looks absolutely amazing, its tragic that it just barely cleared the required amount, because while it looks amazing now, if they had managed to get all the stuff listed in the stretch goals in I would have bought coppies for myself and all my friends, day one, no questions asked.

OT: Looks interesting, certainly gonna keep an eye on this one. We can always use more Metroid-likes, seeing as Nintendo apparently doesn't feel like making a real Metroid game.
 

Jamous

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Apr 14, 2009
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Looks like a pretty fun game. Those mechanics could work really well with a horror title...
 

Direbaka

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Jul 10, 2010
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Halyah said:
UberNoodle said:
Halyah said:
The Apple BOOM said:
Story aside, didn't we have a modern Metroid back in 2010?

Also, you forgot Antichamber.
Other M doesn't count. Never did and never will. <_<

Especially since so far it seems that -thing- killed the franchise...
Hmm, it wasn't a fantastic game, but it certainly wasn't as abysmal as so many gamers make out. Too many drama queens in our community bending reality.
Considering the completely atrocious story, I'd disagree. If anything people were too kind.

Note I said story and not the gameplay.
I'll have to agree with this somewhat. If Other M wasn't a metroid game, it would have just been "meh" instead of horrible. The gameplay wasn't terrible, although using a dpad for analog movement wasn't the best idea, and neither was switching to a stationary first person perspective for launching missiles. The problem was in the story, and other people have made this point far better than I could right now. The short story is that they took a character that was mostly silent in other games, but you could interpret a few things about her character, and then basically threw all of that away to make a strong female character weak. A female space bounty hunter doesn't have to be an unfeeling space marine, but she should at least be able to handle herself like an adult.

OT: There was another decent metroidvania style game called Shadow Complex that was released in 2009. Ignoring the author's problems, the gameplay was pretty good.
 

Quellist

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Oct 7, 2010
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Backed this sucker for £8. Pretty much a bargain at that price imo. The game looks good and looks like it should play well too and lets face it, Metroidvania games have been in short supply of late
 

Atmos Duality

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Mar 3, 2010
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I remember Shadow Complex. That was a pretty excellent game in the vein of Metroid.
Dark Matter looks pretty damn good as a concept though I'm probably not doing another Kickstarter game; as they all have this nasty habit of missing release dates and delaying themselves for absurd periods of time.

Halyah said:
Other M doesn't count. Never did and never will. <_<

Especially since so far it seems that -thing- killed the franchise...
I wouldn't be surprised if the next Smash Bros would be Samus Aran's final appearance.
Other M completely torpedoed Metroid, and after such a fantastic run.