New FPS Bedlam offers tribute to gaming industry

Game/novel tie-in confirmed for next year.

A collaboration between novelist Christopher Brookmyre and UK-based studio RedBedlam has been announced for a new game/novel tie-in called Bedlam.

Based on the book of the same name, the game will visit a variety of different genres ("arcade platformer classics to modern RTS and shooter environments"), all played out from the first-person perspective.

The story, written by Brookmyre, features a character who wakes up in a video game environment after undergoing testing. The twist is he's not the hero of the game he appears in, and is in fact a grunt destined to be cannon fodder for some other character. While trying to find out what's happened to him, the player will jump through a variety of different environments and genres, all while being pursued by an organisation called Integrity who want him silenced. Permanently.

"Having always been a fan of Christopher's novels, we're hugely excited to be working with him on this unique project," said RedBedlam's Nick Witcher. "With such a talented mind behind the invention of the game world and writing the game itself, it's going to be a tremendous title that surfaces in 2014."

"A lot of my writing has been inspired by videogames and it has always been a big part of my life. When the guys at RedBedlam got in touch to see if I was interested in creating a game with them, I jumped at the chance and have since been consistently thrilled to see my own literary worlds visualised so accurately," added Brookmyre.

"Bedlam is a tribute to gaming in all its forms and the part it has played in all our lives - as well as being a top quality FPS adventure in itself. I look forward to seeing more of these fantastic characters and worlds fully realised and I think people are going to really enjoy what we've put together."

The novel is already available to buy, with a paperback edition coming on January 21. The game is set to appear on Steam next summer, and another two novel/game tie-ins are planned for the future. Consider us intrigued.

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