The push for graphics to get better and better has brought us some truly incredible video game vistas. Project: Mara has taken that beauty and twisted it against us.
Ninja Theory, the makers of Hellblade, are determined to again rock your reality. In the pre-release shots of Project: Mara they’ve shown us an absolutely unreal level of detail. Down to the lint on the floorboards of the apartment in which the game is set, we’re looking at a world I’ve never seen in gaming before.
Bearing in mind this is still very much a peek into the pre-release, I’m keen to see if this translates into reality with the same playability on standard hardware.
In the Dreadnaught Diaries, a running game dev vlog detailing the production process for both Project: Mara and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, Ninja Theory co-founder Tameem Antoniades states:
“Based on real lived experience accounts and in-depth research, our aim is to recreate the horrors of the mind as accurately and realistically as possible.”
In a short trailer released in the vlog there’s unbelievably photorealistic depictions of the apartment in which Project: Mara is set. Combined with an audio soundscape of breathing and heartbeats, it’s insanely uncomfortable to experience.
I think we’re reaching the point in horror gaming that I’m about to nope the fuck out of. Photorealism is an incredible goal to set for the makers of the games we know and love, but once we get there, will our feeble minds be ready?
With no slated release date, it’s hard to know how much time we have to prep ourselves for Project: Mara. I guess the move to make is to start buying adult diapers – I feel like we’ll be needing them.
