14 DAY TRIAL // Seemingly in a celebration of Doom's twentieth anniversary, The Missing Ink developer RedBedlam has announced its latest project, Bedlam. The game aims to chart the way the first-person shooter genre has evolved over the years, offering players a novel take on the whole FPS experience.
The novel perspective has a lot to do with the team being joined by award winning crime writer Christopher Brookmyre. Bedlam will be a game based on the writer's upcoming homonymous novel, an exploration of the popular childish fantasy of living in a video game.
Brookmyre has apparently been pestered by his fans to write a sci-fi novel, and the author decided to please the crowd with Bedlam, his ode to the early days of PC shooters.
Bedlam's plot revolves around an everyday Joe, an underpaid and overworked scientist developing medical technology. After undertaking some tests in order to break the monotony of his desk job, he wakes up trapped in a video game world, with no explanation and seemingly no escape.
The book sets out to explore whether entering the world of a video game where you don't have to worry about everyday life issues is an ultimate fantasy or possibly your worst nightmare.
Players are stuck in an endless loop of pain and violence in this adventure, and not even death can offer them an escape, or even a break from all the chaos.
The world of Bedlam aims to offer a unique first-person shooter experience, taking players on a journey through time, exploring various settings, from the pixelated brown and gray aesthetics of Doom to World War II scenarios and futuristic Tron-like levels.
RedBedlam also mentioned that players would be faced with platforming sections and other different game-genre exploration experiences from the first-person perspective.
Eurogamer reports that another two novel/game tie-ins have been discussed. Additional information on the project (as well as more images) are available on its site. The book is due on February 7, and the game launches on Steam in the summer of 2014.