Merge Games has announced their newest release, and if you’re a fan of campy science fiction films from the 60’s, you’re gonna love this one. Not just because there’s flapping tentacles and out of place eyeballs everywhere, but because the game looks absolutely beautiful. Albedo: Eyes From Outer Space promises to be an “out of this world, first-person adventure†set in an abandoned research facility on Jupiter. Speaking of mind-shattering isolation, the game was designed by one man.. That’s right- Fabrizio Zagaglia (aka Z4G0) designed this outer space horror-show all by his lonesome.
You’re John T. Longly, an astronaut tasked with being a watchman over a self-sufficient research facility. Sitting back in one of the easiest desk jobs ever, his night is disturbed by an explosion that rattles the whole facility. You’d go and find out what caused it, but you’re knocked unconscious before you can get out of your comfy chair. When you wake up, you discover that you’ve somehow moved to the basement, surrounded by the wreckage of the ship. You’ll have to investigate the ship to discover the mystery of what happened, all while being harassed by murderous and unearthly monstrosities. Does your employer’s classified experiments have anything to do with these creatures?
Albedo will feature a unique mixture of genres and themes, combining the storytelling of a ‘walking simulator’ with the gunplay of a first person shooter and the puzzles of The Talos Principle. The game has themes of lovecraftian test subjects, interdimensional war, and bending time and space in the pursuit of saving Earth from total domination. You know they’re after total domination; I mean, honestly- with creatures like these, you really gotta keep an eye on them.
Perhaps the weirdest thing I read in the press release is this; Z4G0 was inspired to create this game based on his time being “kidnapped by a visiting alien race.†According to the release, Z4G0 says he “received a telepathic message from the outer space and began to Albedo: Eyes from Outer Space. (sic)†Because of this extraterrestrial assistance, he was able to develop the game in under two years. No word on if it was the Tralfamadorians, but if I had to guess it was and has always been them.
Regardless of how he got to this point, the game looks impressive to say the least. I’ve reached out to the developer, so hopefully I get access to a full interview soon about his first game, and to discuss these space-dwelling muses that inspired it. For more out of this world gaming news, make sure you keep reading Mouse N Joypad for humanity’s continued pursuit of escapism.
