Shadow of a Soul

Overview

Shadow of a Soul tells the story of an industrial espionage mission gone terrifyingly wrong. Playing as a thief named Jack, you'll be tasked with solving puzzles, finding clues, and hiding from the "various manifestations of ghosts" you'll encounter along the way.

Gameplay

In the vein of traditional adventure games, players will need to solve puzzles, search for clues and uncover the mysteries while hiding from various manifestations of ghosts.

Story

Chapter I’s story revolves around a thief named Jack who is on an industrial espionage mission to steal blueprints of a new product. However, as he makes his way into the office complex he discovers that not everything about this place is what it appears to be.

As unnatural sounds and horrifying visions begins to unravel before his eyes, Jack begins to have an unnerving feeling that he has become the target of malignant presence and he isn’t allowed to leave… just yet. Jack’s terrifying journey will lead him to mysterious encounters that will leave their marks on his mind as well as his flesh.

Development

Shadow of a Soul: Chapter 1 is developed by one man, Ferzan Kanat Aygen, who's also CEO of Vivec Entertainment (a one-man operation). The game has been in development for over a year as of the 12/20/11 press release, and contains between 12-16 hours of game play.

Influences

In an interview with Gameranx, Ferzan details influences on the design. "I'm trying to incorporate the running and hiding dynamics of Thief and Call of Cthulhu with the 2D puzzles of old adventures games, coupled with the loneliness of Amnesia."

Puzzles

Ferzan says in the same interview: "Usually, puzzles in games are incorporated as mini games. Time stops when you’re solving the puzzle, no matter what happens in the game. Shadow of a Soul is different from that because the puzzles are integrated into the game. They are 2D puzzles in a 3D world and you need to solve them while you are constantly running and hiding."

Release

Shadow of a Soul: Chapter 1 will be released on October 24th, 2012, one week before Halloween. It's the first part in a planned trilogy. The game will retail at USD19.99. It has been developed primarily for Windows and Macintosh platforms, however, a PS3 version of the game will be released in 2013.