Previews// Solarix

Modern videogames have a tendency to want to guide you through every system they possess before unleashing you upon their world - 'hand-holding'. The thinking behind this is understandable - developers want people to be able to fully experience their product with as little frustration as possible.

Things haven't always been this way, and for the developers at Pulsetense Games they aren't going to be that way with their first game, a science-fiction stealth/horror hybrid called Solarix. I've played a pre-release build of the game for about two hours.

"The game is purposely designed to be 'old school' in its mechanics, showing the younger generations how we used to play games (System Shock 2, Thief, Half Life). No hand-holding, no waypoints on a mini-map. We feel environmental storytelling and prompts within the Objective menu are key," the game's co-producer, Mark Gregory told me.

System Shock 2 especially jumped out at me as I made my tentative way through the early sections of the game's post-viral outbreak spacebase. You wake up, alone and with very little to let you know what is going on. It is dark, dank and, if games could convey smell (I'm so glad they cannot), the living quarters would smell like a mid-nineties nightclub toilet at around 2am.

Your guides through the early sections are Betty, a possibly insane survivor who provides some dark comic relief to an otherwise oppressive environment. Even though her sanity seems to teeter on a knife edge, you never know if you should be smiling along with her or seriously creeped out.

"I think that's a very good analogy. When we spoke to Tamara [Ryan] about how to voice Betty that is pretty much the MO we gave her to follow. She is like our Harley Quinn in moments, very silly and funny but it only takes one thing to make her lose the plot and go crazy," said Gregory. Harley Quinn, a character in the DC Comics universe who has at times been both villain and unlikely hero is a perfect match for the vibe Betty gives off.

On the other end of the spectrum is A.M.I, the facilities' artificial intelligence, who seemingly wants to continue her work in creating a cure for the pathogen responsible for the destruction you awaken to. This AI will give you hints as to where to go to accomplish your next goal, she also advocates stealth when encountering the military force sent in to clean up the mess.

I had been having trouble with the AI of the combatants. I thought I was hidden and tried to pick up an item to use as a distraction but was detected almost immediately and killed. I wasn't sure if I was doing something wrong or if this was a bug I was encountering, so I asked Mark about it.

"The AI is light and sound driven. If you're in darkness (check the RAD counter on the bottom left of your screen) the AI cannot see you unless you make noise. Vice-versa - say you make noise, you can lose them in the shadows if you get enough distance between you and the AI." This made me wonder and after the interview I went back to the game and, sure enough, the place I was encountering this twist in AI was in darkness.

All good so far, but when I picked up the item I intended to throw it was banging on the piping I was hiding behind, thus bringing the angry soldier down upon me... or the spot where I had been hiding. In the time it had taken the soldier to find where I had been I had relocated and managed to watch as he searched for me in vain.

"Solarix is all about timing and forward planning," said Gregory. In other words - be more aware of your surroundings and don't rush on ahead like you do in most modern videogames. It's something which can take time to re-learn.

Solarix is designed around a traditional level structure. You are handed an area to explore loaded with light puzzles, encounters that can be stealthed through (or fought through if you have the resources to not only kill/incapacitate your enemies, but also survive their ire).

In total I had a dozen rounds for my pistol throughout my two hour stint with the preview build and almost every time I pulled the trigger I regretted it. Inside these levels are also scattered audio logs that fill in parts of back story and add foreshadowing to events later in the game.

Solarix, I learned from Gregory, was the subject of a kickstarter campaign mid-way through 2014, but failed to reach its funding goals. The game was essentially finished and the additional funding was required to polish aspects of the game such as animation and voice work. Despite this setback the team continued to work on the game, funding it where they could with their own money and this dedication shows in the almost-finished product.

They are now in their final run-up to launch, which has been dated as April 30th, and all that remains is to fix a few bugs. It has been a long journey for the small team at Pulsetense. They have suffered bumps and losses along the way, but their determination has borne fruit - scary, challenging but ultimately rewarding fruit - and I, for one, am looking forward to playing the finished product.