Blind is a survival horror game unlike any other. Full of chilling psychological horror and
clever environmental puzzles played from the first person with one very different element: you are
blind. Taking control of Candace Gillam, a strong willed teenager who has been blind for
several years, you will make your way through the terrifying facilities of the mysterious
NOA research facility and along the way learn how to use your enhanced sense of touch, sound
and smell to your advantage. The player will unravel a deep narrative as they interact with
the facility's twisted denizens, including the unforgettable Simon.
Touch
To explore her environment, Candace must feel around her surroundings, illuminating everything she touches. Candace will automatically search the immediate area around her and prevent herself from bumping into objects or find a stable surface to help her move more quickly. If the player wants to more closely inspect a certain area, Candace may stop and take her time to examine a table or file cabinet for helpful items.
Hearing
Candace can form a better mental image of her environment through the clever manipulation of sound. Her ability to sense the location and origin of sounds will be represented as visible sound waves that ripple outwards from the source and bounce off objects realistically, illuminating these objects as they wash over them. Candace will be able to throw objects or make noise in other ways to both get a better idea of the world around her, and to distract and disrupt the inhabitants of NOA. Everything that makes noise in the environment independent of Candace will be visible, therefore, everything that Candace hears, the player sees.
Smell
Smell is used to great effect in Blind. Objects and NPCs with strong scents will be partially illuminated, with pleasant smells being represented with cool lighting, and unpleasant smells with warm lighting.
Equillibrium
Throughout the game, there will be frequent moments of psychological tension and overt physical scares. These affect the mental state of Candace and hopefully as a result, the player. As her Equilibrium destabilizes, the world around her becomes becomes warped due to the irrational effects fear has on the mind. Generally, once your Equilibrium starts to unravel, Candace should find somewhere to hide and calm down. Thankfully though, fear also increases adrenaline, enabling Candace move significantly faster.
Cognitive Map
The Cognitive Map describes the human brain's ability to write a map of an environment as a person experiences it. Though based on a realistic idea, the Cognitive was built around the idea that while we want Blind to be as faithful as possible to the experience of actually being blind, we recognize that we want players to be able to enjoy the game we have created. The cognitive map allows Candace to see a version of objects that she has already revealed through touch in the world at all times. This version of the object is simply a grey outline of the object that lacks any real detail, but still keeps the player informed of the general layout of the environment to keep them oriented. Once touched, the objects will fade to this state over a short period of time as Candace gradually forgets the small details.
Candace
Candace Gillam is a 17 year old highschooler and the unwitting heroine of Blind. Candace has been blind for several years, but is otherwise a typical teenager who has been placed in a nightmarish scenario from which she must escape.
Simon
Friend or Foe? This is the question the player will ask themselves over and over again as the unsettlingly intelligent child Simon leads Candace further and further into uncertainty. His guidance is questionable, but it is all Candace has to go on. She will have no choice but to follow him.
Enemy
Enemy is a malicious, powerful agent of fear that will be persistently chasing and dogging the player. Formerly living out a life sentence in prison, NOA took him in and conducted experiments on him that warped him into a monster. Since the abandonment of the facility, Enemy has been free to wreak havoc throughout NOA. For some reason, he has taken a special interest in Candace.
NOA
The bleak research facility in which the game is set has been recently abandoned by its proprietors for reasons unknown. The entire facility has been locked down, and its inhabitants have been left to fend for themselves.
Within the vast complex of NOA, Candace will explore a wide variety of environments that span the breadth of whatever the R&D firm had their ethically questionable hands in. From the unsettlingly sterile medical ward in which the game begins, to the subterranean suburb testing environment, Candace will be forced into some truly terrifying places.
NPCs
Though not all the inhabitants of NOA are outright hostile, most of them are mentally unstable. Throughout the game, Candace will interact with these extremely disturbing individuals who probably don’t have her best interest in mind. While no two NPC's are the same, they all have one thing in common: they were all the unwilling participants of NOA's horrible experiments, and generally have been inflicted with a wide variety of psychological problems as a result. Some will talk nonsense over the loud speakers, others will have you figuring out a twisted puzzle that they have set up for you, others still might just want to give you an obscure item that they thought was pretty. While they aren't the most desirable company, they certainly make for a wildly unpredictable gameplay experience.
|
