Science fiction horror/adventure game Caffeine is a quirky and gorgeous looking indie game, and is looking for $5000 in funding on crowdfunding site Indiegogo in order to be fully realized.
Caffeine takes place in a distant future in which humanity has become ferociously addicted to, you guessed it, coffee. So addicted, in fact, that giant space stations have been constructed in order to mine materials to make synthetic caffeine across the galaxy.
The game casts the player as a young boy on board one such station. As is usually the case in scary, exploratory games, you wake up to find everyone on the station is gone, and that you have no memory of what happened before. From there you must explore the station, negotiate puzzles, find out what happened on the ship, and deal with some terrifying, unknown threat that lurks on the station; a caffeine-addicted demon from hell perhaps?
An alpha demo can be downloaded on the game’s Indiegogo page. There isn’t much to do in the demo beyond walking around and taking in the sights and sounds of the space station. A room containing several post-it notes and memos provide clues as to what was going on with the station, and indeed much of the game’s backstory will be told in this manner.
Caffeine is being built on the newly available Unreal 4 Engine, and it looks gorgeous, with impressive, bold lighting complimenting the clean, angular design of the station, which seems to have taken inspiration from Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey. A few ominous scares are hinted at, but nothing that will make you jump out of your seat. Regardless of how the game turns out in the gameplay department, it’s safe to say that it will be an impressive looking one.
Caffeine is being made by a one-man team, a self taught visual effects designer from Australia named Dylan Browne. Speaking to Just Adventure, Browne said that the game will be taking much inspiration from action horror games like Condemned and FEAR., and will place emphasis on its sound design to build tension.
Donating to the campaign will net you a variety of rewards, ranging from T-shirts and coffee mugs to having your name, photo and voice in the game itself. Caffeine needs $5000 by the end of August, and so far has raised $550.
The game is primarily being build for Windows, Linux and Mac, although a PS4 version is planned for a future date. It will also include support for the Oculus Rift and 4K resolution. Browne hopes to release the game during the first half of 2015.