Syndrome, the upcoming survival-horror title from Camel 101 and Bigmoon Entertainment, is a title that might well appear to fans of sci-fi horror. And Gamereactor recently spoke to Camel 101 about the game.
Syndrome, according to producer Ricardo Cesteiro, is a game in which the player wakes up alone on a ship without any recollection of how they got there, and "as the game evolves he starts to regain his memories and to find out what's happening exactly".
The game focuses on isolation, however, the player does encounter hostile monsters throughout the game which have been corrupted by a "strange entity" that threatens the survival of the player. When asked about the confrontations with these monsters Cesteiro said "we didn't want to repeat the formula of just running away from the monster and hiding", possibly hinting at the comparisons one might draw between this game and Alien: Isolation.
Cesteiro also said that "we didn't want the game to be a shooter" either, and so the aim is to create a healthy balance between fight or flight with early gameplay showing the player wielding a tool as a weapon.
In regards to exploration, that is something the developers also want to allow the player to do. "We encourage the player to explore the ship", Cerneiro said, and efforts have been made to make it as substantial as possible, being a sizeable ship with multiple floors.
There are also secrets scattered throughout the ship to reward the curious and those that want to hack their way through and discover more to it. The ship itself is also a very eerie setting, too, with flickering lights and a deathly silence pervading throughout.
The developers have been working on Syndrome for the past 18 months and "wanted to create something that could work on PC and consoles" as well. When asked about the possibility of VR in the game, Cesteiro was very pleased to announce that the team were "already running the game with Oculus" and that Syndrome is the "perfect game to play with VR".
Camel 101 started as a studio with very casual games, progressing then into strategy in recent years. Syndrome, then, is a step in a different direction for the team, but the steps look promising so far.
Syndrome is aiming for a June release on PC, with a console version expected later in the year. You can see it in action below.