Project M is an “interactive movie game” that was just announced by NCSoft. It is similar to other narrative-heavy games such as Detroit Become Human, Heavy Rain, andUntil Dawn.
Project M is a Hyper-Realistic Looking Sci-Fi Interactive Adventure
Interesting choose-your-own-adventure games are far and few between. Though we have had recent successes such as Quantic Dream’s Detroit: Become Human or the Dark Pictures Anthology games, there could always be more on the market.
Korean developer and publisher NCSoft has just announced on June 8 that they are working on something that will satisfy this type of gamer.
Introducing Project M
Their latest work is being called “Project M”, which is hopefully just a placeholder. The trailer that dropped features hyper-realistic and advanced graphics. Everything just screamed detail on an incredible scale.
An achievement such as this is made possible with the use of Unreal Engine 5. This is the same engine being used by CD Projekt Red for theirfourth Witcher Game. NCSoft is making good use of the engine by adding its own skillset into the mix to create such breathtaking visuals.
Some of the techniques being used are featured heavily in the trailer. They showed off side by side and screen cuts between in-game visuals as well as motion capture with real-life actors. Facial animations were detailed and expressive. The action was also well animated and choreographed.
Their 3D scanning technology was put on show as the footage compared photos of real-world locations and their in-game counterparts. The two locations that they showed off were an empty street and a warehouse. There was very little difference between the photos.
If this game doesn’t scream “next-gen” or “high budget”, then I don’t know what will.
All the World’s a Stage
The story trailer kicks off as a husband and wife share a nice dinner in some high-end restaurant somewhere in Korea. It is then that the man awkwardly asks his beau, “Let’s say if someone killed you, and I decided to take revenge - what would you think of that? Hypothetically, of course”.
While it isn’t clear in the trailer what exactly went down, we do know that this man suddenly finds himself in a hospital bed. Looks like someone did in fact try to take his wife’s life and succeeded. An unnamed assassin walks into his room and tries to finish the job. We then get to see a lot of action, including some quicktime events.
QTE Just for Me
Just like Detroit: Become Human, Project M will feature many choices and decisions that will shape how the story flows. The game will have branching paths (hopefully as deep or even deeper than Detroit) and multiple endings.
And similar to Heavy Rain, another game by Quantic Dream, failure in a quicktime event won’t spell doom for the playthrough. Failing some of these button mashers will have the story continue on, albeit a bit differently depending on how you failed.
Trailer footage even shows a comparison of one instance of QTE wherein the player tries to kick the leg of the assassin. Pressing the right button in time will throw your assailant at the hospital bed, perhaps making the fight easier. Get it wrong and it is our character that gets thrown to the floor instead.
NCSoft’s NCing
With the announcement of Project M also comes NCSoft’s newest process, “NCing”. This newest workflow is basically NCSoft saying that they will be more open to their customers during the development phases of their games.
“NCing expresses the company’s commitment to unveil the development process and to continue communicating with the players down the road regarding the new projects,” says Moon Young Choi, the Principal Development Management Officer for NCSoft. “Going forward, we will proactively present our development progress in various forms of content such as trailer videos, interviews, novels, and webtoons.”
Project M Release Date
Project M currently has no definite plans for a release date just yet. It also does not explicitly state what consoles it will be released on. However, we can assume that the title will arrive on the PlayStation 5. The button prompts on the QTE’s have our familiar X’s, O’s, and R2’s.
NCSoft is also responsible for publishingGuild Wars 2, a popular MMO.
For more news, check out ourWeekly RPG Roundup,Summer Game Fest 2022 Sets to be ‘Primarily Focused’ on Announced Games, andCapcom Announces Showcase for June 13th to Focus on Previously Announced Titles.
