Shade: Wrath of Angels
Shade is Cenega's baby. A third-person action/adventure game, you play a 'Miracle Verifier' - a guy called to a remote European village to check the authenticity of claims of a miracle by the local vicar. However, things are somewhat less idylic than country folk gawking at a potato shaped like Jesus - on your arrival, there's absolutely nobody to be seen. Of course, this doesn't last long, and soon you find yourself needing to shoot the crap out of zombies & evildoers alike. The record will show I automatically rate any game with zombies to shoot highly, but these beasts are something special. Shoot their legs off and they'll crawl after you. Whilst they probably can't catch up with you like this, they'll position themselves behind any door you go through - and bite your knees off if you try and go back the way you came.
The lighting engine is also very impressive. Recalling some very early footage of discontinued Dreamcast horror game Agartha, your character's torch gives an impressive flickery light on all things around him, with shadows cast in exactly the right places (and suitably fuzzy when the should be). A meaty PC is probably advised.
The game settings centre mostly around the little village, with occasional visits to crypts & caverns. One section even sees you going back in time to a level populated by an unhappy-looking bunch of knights (who look an awful lot like the Templar), where you have to sneak around and avoid detection rather than run straight in with an AK47.
How the game actually plays is unknown to us at this time - the early build previewed at ECTS had a number of components in place, but AI & hit detection were not amongst them. However, this is a very exciting development, and Cenega UK have promised to have the developers answer any questions I throw at them. Post your queries in this thread in the forums, and I'll get them answered - or visit the Shade site itself for any pressing curiosities.
PC Screenshots: Screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen
