Spec Ops: The Line Keen on Horror, Violence Justified by War

Spec Ops: The Line aims to tell a story inspired from Heart of Darkness that uses the first-person medium to deliver it, but the team at Yager is keen on making sure that gore and over-the-top violence do not become the main sealing points for the game.

Shawn Frison, who is the senior designer working on Spec Ops: The Line, has told Rock, Paper, Shotgun that, “I think it’s a really fine line. It’s something that we have really struggled a lot with while making the game. How do you show how messed up all of this is and then moving into gore porn or gun porn.

“I think there’s less risk of that 20 years ago because people hadn’t gotten so used to it, but it’s become such a huge part of gaming, that it’s fun to make somebody’s body explode.”

The developer believes that it is hard for the team working on Spec Ops: The Line to differentiate between the violence justified because it is part of war and gratuitous moments that only exist because executives believe they will drive up sales.

Frison added, “We have you joyfully bombing the hell out of people, which gives a sense of power, but then you have to go down and walk through the aftermath of what you actually did, so you get both sides. The fun side and then the regret of what you did. I think the fact that it felt fun makes the impact that much worse.”

Spec Ops: The Line is set in a Dubai destroyed by both war and by freak weather events. The initial phases of the game will rely heavily on horror like mechanics to make the player understand the stakes and the tone of the narrative.

Yager is keen on delivering a video game take on Apocalypse Now while also crafting solid shooter mechanics.

Spec Ops: The Line should be out this year on the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360 and the PC.