Regular readers will know that I love interactive fiction of many types. Text adventures, gamebooks, visual novels, you name it, I’ll try it. Just about two years ago, a pretty interesting post-apocalyptic take on the concept was released called This Is Not A Test ($1.99). What made it stand out was the way it drew from comic books as a source of inspiration, giving the game a stronger visual sense than most of its more book-inspired peers. I liked it quite a bit when I reviewed it, but it soon became clear the game was struggling to find an audience. In spite of that rocky road, developer Robot Monster Productions is taking another kick at the can with the upcoming release of The Doom Beneath, due to release on October 1st of this year.
Rather than do a straightforward sequel to This Is Not A Test, Robot Monster is taking the concept of an interactive graphic novel and applying it to a new setting and genre. In The Doom Beneath, you play as a geologist who stumbles upon a terrible secret underground. What that secret is, Robot Monster has yet to reveal, but you can be sure it’s not an awesome deli that nobody else knows about, because that would be the opposite of horror! The game features a number of RPG systems and a few important improvements on the last title, including a proper save system, turn-based combat, and fancy audio layering that should help hammer the terror home. Of course, you can also look forward to the return of the interesting skill system and multiple outcomes of the previous game, along with some gorgeous artwork.
The Doom Beneath will hit on October 1st, just in time for the Halloween season. There’s no word yet on a price, but let’s hope this time the developer can find a price point and stick to it, because the constant back-and-forth between paid and F2P This Is Not A Test ended up doing sure didn’t please a lot of people. We’ll bring you more information on this one as we get it, and we’ll naturally have a full review of the game once it’s released.
