Have you heard of Stasis? It's an isometric sci-fi horror adventure that pulled in $132,000 on Kickstarter last year. In a recent update, developer The Brotherhood detailed the current state of the game, which appears to be coming along nicely, as well as a new trailer showing off some previously unseen locations and visual effects.
I don't think we've actually talked about the game before, so a basic breakdown is probably in order. Stasis is a point-and-click adventure set on the Groomlake, a desolate spacecraft in a decaying orbit around Neptune that serves as a platform for the Cayne Corporation's "horrific experimentation and illicit research." You play as John Maracheck, who awakes from stasis—hence the title—alone, injured, and missing his wife and daughter.
There's a powerful Aliens/System Shock vibe to the whole thing, and despite being developed by a tiny indie outfit from South Africa, it's managed to attract the attention of composer Mark Morgan, whose previous work includes Fallout and Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment, Wasteland 2, and the upcoming Pillars of Eternity and Torment: Tides of Numenera. The trailer demonstrates the "vision light" that Maracheck will use in place of a conventional flashlight, as well as the variable "mood lighting" and other visual effects.
No release date has been set, but developer Chris Bischoff says the team is working "furiously" to have Stasis ready for release in the first quarter of 2015; at the very least, they hope to have it in beta for the 2015 Game Developers Conference in early March. In the meantime, if you find yourself intrigued and want to know more, an alpha demo for both PC and Mac is available at stasisgame.com.
