Past Cure, the game about a man tormented by mannequins, is coming in February

Remember Past Cure? It was revealed in July with a trailer showcasing "the struggles of a man torment by shiny muscular mannequins," as we put it. That may not be the most concise headline you'll ever read, but to be honest nothing about it was very clear: The game is about a former soldier named Ian who's hunting down the people who peformed secret, shady experiments on him,

Those experiments granted him telepathy and telekinesis, but also broke his sanity, which I might argue is still a net positive. Overall, it struck me as (very) vaguely Deus Ex-like (the guy in the debut trailer actually says he was given a power he didn't ask for) and that made it worth keeping an eye on.

A release date wasn't announced at the time, but developer Phantom 8 Studio said today that Past Cure will be out on February 2, 2018. Word of the release date was accompanied by a brief new teaser that's even less informative than the one from July: Ian says that he's "losing it," and then spends 20 seconds busting people up, a violent series of outbursts that includes putting a bullet into a guy who by all appearances is Agent 47.

"The storytelling of Past Cure is integrated in the levels and missions, the more you progress, the more you discover about Ian’s past. To have the player experience deep immersion, we chose a linear level and mission structure in combination with a highly cinematic and narrative experience," Phantom 8 said of the game.

"Both missions and the arching levels drive the story. There is variation in gameplay as the story and surroundings develop, contrasting and combining between surreal dark dream sequences with survival and puzzle gameplay, and the gritty but stylish real world focusing on stealth and action gameplay."

Still unclear, then, but also still interesting. More information about Past Cure and the people who make it is up at phantom8.studio.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.