I can only assume Muffled Warfare is just developer Gattai Games challenging Samurai Punk, the makers of Screencheat, a multiplayer FPS where everyone is invisible and you have to discern enemy locations by looking at their screen. Because Muffled Warfare has taken it one step further: it's a multiplayer FPS where everyone is blind. Presumably the next game in this chain will come with an invisible monitor.
The Steam description for Muffled Warfare, which will launch in Early Access on Friday, April 27, took the words right out of my mouth: "You've heard of that blind superhero that dresses up like a devil in red, right? Yea, think that, but with guns." Basically, you see via echolocation, using reverberating sounds to paint a picture of your surroundings and the enemies therein. So rather than blank nothingness, your screen is filled with ever-changing renderings of one-bit environments.
Virtually all actions give off sound, from running to jumping to shooting, and just as you can use that sound to scan your surroundings, your enemies can use it to locate you. Oppositely, you can stand absolutely still to 'hide' in silence. It's a bonkers idea, but definitely intriguing.
Interestingly, this isn't Gattai's only sound-powered game. Their other work-in-progress game, Stifled, applies a similar formula to VR horror. "The sounds made by your in-game character and yourself through microphone input reveal the otherwise hidden world," its Steam description reads. Wild stuff.
Gattai says Muffled Warfare will include three maps, eight weapons and one game mode (free-for-all) when it hits Early Access. They expect it to remain in Early Access for three to six months, and they estimate its price will increase by 20 to 30 percent when it officially releases.
