Core Decay is an upcoming indie first-person action role-playing video game developed by Ivar Hill and Slipgate Ironworks, and published by 3D Realms. Described as a "philosophical sci-fi adventure", the game takes inspiration from classic 1990s games Deus Ex , Descent , and System Shock . [1] [2]
Core Decay is an "atmospheric immersive sim. [1] The game is experienced through a first-person perspective, and focuses on exploration of the game world to accomplish goals. The player can interact with NPCs, collect logs and messages, hack computer systems, and engage in combat with enemies. First-person shooting is a core game mechanic, though often not necessary for progression. The abilities of the player-character can be enhanced by finding cybernetic implants, which grant improvements such as damage resistance, more powerful attacks, and better hacking ability. There is also a detailed damage model that tracks injury to the player-character across specific body parts, leading to specific debilitating effects as the player is damaged by hostile elements.
In the future, ecological collapse has caused society to crumble. Governments have given way to massive corporate powers. Facing extinction, a mysterious group of conspirators has formed to ensure the survival of humanity by any means necessary. The game begins as the player-character wakes up in a cold storage pod without any idea of what is going on, and now as much a machine as human. The player must explore the perilous installations of this shadowy organization and discover what they are planning.
Ivar Hill created Core Decay as a personal side project while working as a professional game developer. He cites his own love of games like Descent and Deus Ex as inspiration for what he wanted to make. As a one-man team, he could not achieve the depth of such AAA titles, but could borrow many elements of those games such as emergent gameplay styles. [3] As development progressed, other personnel joined the project to help with game programming, music, and art.
Hill selected Unity as the game engine mainly due to his own familiarity, but also to allow strong multi-platform support. The game was developed simultaneously for both PC and mobile platforms, with only control schemes changing between versions. [3] Though using a modern game engine, the game world is constructed with low-resolution models and textures. This serves both the retro shooter feel of the game, as well as the small development team. Support for mobile platforms was later abandoned and the game was developed for only the PC platform. [4]
3D Realms partnered with Hill to publish and co-develop the game. [2]
Deus Ex is a 2000 action role-playing game developed by Ion Storm and published by Eidos Interactive. Set in a cyberpunk-themed dystopian world in the year 2052, the game follows JC Denton, an agent of the fictional agency United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition (UNATCO), who is given superhuman abilities by nanotechnology, as he sets out to combat hostile forces in a world ravaged by inequality and a deadly plague. His missions entangle him in a conspiracy that brings him into conflict with the Triads, Majestic 12, and the Illuminati.
A player character is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not controlled by a player are called non-player characters (NPCs). The actions of non-player characters are typically handled by the game itself in video games, or according to rules followed by a gamemaster refereeing tabletop role-playing games. The player character functions as a fictional, alternate body for the player controlling the character.
System Shock is a 1994 first-person action-adventure video game developed by LookingGlass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. It was directed by Doug Church with Warren Spector serving as producer. The game is set aboard a space station in a cyberpunk vision of the year 2072. Assuming the role of a nameless security hacker, the player attempts to hinder the plans of a malevolent artificial intelligence called SHODAN.
A platformer is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels with uneven terrain and suspended platforms of varying height that require jumping and climbing to traverse. Other acrobatic maneuvers may factor into the gameplay, such as swinging from vines or grappling hooks, jumping off walls, gliding through the air, or bouncing from springboards or trampolines.
Wolfenstein 3D is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software and FormGen. Originally released on May 5, 1992, for DOS, it was inspired by the 1981 Muse Software video game Castle Wolfenstein, and is the third installment in the Wolfenstein series. In Wolfenstein 3D, the player assumes the role of Allied spy William "B.J." Blazkowicz during World War II as he escapes from the Nazi German prison Castle Wolfenstein and carries out a series of crucial missions against the Nazis. The player traverses each of the game's levels to find an elevator to the next level or kill a final boss, fighting Nazi soldiers, dogs, and other enemies with a knife and a variety of guns.
Half-Life is a 1998 first-person shooter game developed by Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Studios for Windows. It was Valve's debut product and the first game in the Half-Life series. The player assumes the role of Gordon Freeman, a scientist who must escape from the Black Mesa Research Facility after it is invaded by aliens following a disastrous scientific experiment. The gameplay consists of combat, exploration and puzzles.
Descent is a first-person shooter (FPS) game developed by Parallax Software and released by Interplay Productions in 1995 for MS-DOS, and later for Macintosh, PlayStation, and RISC OS. It popularized a subgenre of FPS games employing six degrees of freedom and was the first FPS to feature entirely true-3D graphics. The player is cast as a mercenary hired to eliminate the threat of a mysterious extraterrestrial computer virus infecting off-world mining robots. In a series of mines throughout the Solar System, the protagonist pilots a spaceship and must locate and destroy the mine's power reactor and escape before being caught in the mine's self-destruction, defeating opposing robots along the way. Players can play online and compete in either deathmatches or cooperate to take on the robots.
Catacomb 3-D is a first-person shooter video game, the third in the Catacomb series, the first of which to feature 3D computer graphics. It was developed by id Software and originally published by Softdisk under the Gamer's Edge label, released in November 1991. The player takes control of the high wizard Petton Everhail, descending into the catacombs of the Towne Cemetery to defeat the evil lich Nemesis and rescue his friend Grelminar.
An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, rhythm games and platform games. Multiplayer online battle arena and some real-time strategy games are also considered action games.
Blood is a 3D first-person shooter video game developed by Monolith Productions and published by GT Interactive and developed using Ken Silverman’s Build engine. The shareware version was released for MS-DOS on March 7, 1997, while the full version was later released on May 21 in North America, and June 20 in Europe.
Gearbox Software, L.L.C is an American video game development company based in Frisco, Texas. It was established as a limited liability company in February 1999 by five developers formerly of Rebel Boat Rocker. Randy Pitchford, one of the founders, serves as president and chief executive officer. Gearbox initially created expansions for the Valve game Half-Life, then ported that game and others to console platforms. In 2005, Gearbox launched its first independent set of games, Brothers in Arms, on console and mobile devices. It became their flagship franchise and spun off a comic book series, television documentary, books, and action figures. Their second original game series, Borderlands, commenced in 2009, and by 2015 had sold over 26 million copies. The company also owns the intellectual property of Duke Nukem and Homeworld.
An action role-playing game is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is an action role-playing game developed by Eidos-Montréal and published by Square Enix's European branch for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 in August 2011. A version for OS X was released in April 2012. The game is a prequel to the original Deus Ex (2000) and the third installment in the Deus Ex series. The gameplay combines first-person shooter, stealth, and role-playing elements. It features exploration and combat in environments connected to multiple city-based hubs, in addition to quests that grant experience and allow customization of the main character's abilities with items called Praxis Kits. Conversations between characters feature a variety of responses, with options in conversations and at crucial story points affecting how some events play out.
Brothers in Arms is a tactical shooter video game series by Gearbox Software, consisting of ten individual games. The core series consists of the first-person shooters Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 (2005), Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood (2005), and Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (2008). The storyline is set against the backdrop of the liberation of Western Europe during World War II. It has mainly been released for Windows and MacOS platforms as well as sixth and seventh generation consoles and some mobile devices.
A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through the eyes of the main character. This genre shares multiple common traits with other shooter games, and in turn falls under the action games category. Since the genre's inception, advanced 3D and pseudo-3D graphics have proven fundamental to allow a reasonable level of immersion in the game world, and this type of game helped pushing technology progressively further, challenging hardware developers worldwide to introduce numerous innovations in the field of graphics processing units. Multiplayer gaming has been an integral part of the experience, and became even more prominent with the diffusion of internet connectivity in recent years.
Deus Ex: The Fall is an action role-playing video game developed by N-Fusion Interactive under the supervision of Eidos-Montréal. A spin-off of the Deus Ex series, the game was published by Square Enix's European branch for iOS in 2013. Android and Windows versions released in 2014. The gameplay—combining first-person shooter, stealth and role-playing elements—features exploration and combat in Panama City and quests which grant experience and allow customization of the main character's abilities.
An immersive sim (simulation) is a video game genre that emphasizes player choice. Its core, defining trait is the use of simulated systems that respond to a variety of player actions which, combined with a comparatively broad array of player abilities, allow the game to support varied and creative solutions to problems, as well as emergent gameplay beyond what has been explicitly designed by the developer. This definition is not to be confused with game systems which allow player choice in a confined sense or systems which allow players to easily escape consequences of their choices.
Graven is a 2024 dark fantasy first-person shooter video game developed by Slipgate Ironworks and published by 3D Realms and Fulqrum Publishing. Often described as a spiritual successor to Hexen II, Graven incorporates elements of the action role-playing game and immersive sim genres to create an "action-adventure puzzler".
