Shooter, Adventure, RPG? - "Into the Dark" gameplay explanation feature

Our tagline for "Into the Dark" is quite shady in its claims. Many of you have read the sentences

and asked yourself what that shall mean.

OK, I`ll try to explain: We got a storyline that explains why the player entered the first level (a small cabin in the woods) and it also explains why he wants to get out of there as soon as he realizes that there are monstrous creatures and soldiers and fights between - obviously - different factions (not only men vs. monsters). He`s no hero. He can handle a gun and is smart, but definately not a kick-ass killer or supersoldier.

The first level explains INGAME why the players char cannot exit the same way he entered. He has to find another one - and this brigns him deeper and deeper into the secret, huge underground facility that he had entered by accident.

So where are Adventure, Shooter, RPG?

Lets start with the shooter element. You can solve every single level by going postal, collecting every key, pushing every button and killing everything in sight. If you follow the hitns and warnings, you will find the exit. But this approach will often lead you into a zombie-flooded pit, the breeding hive of the mutants or in a ready room full of US mariens armed with M4 assault rifles and confusing you with an enemy.
You can survive this one and the master the game, but it will be very tough. In reward for being such a lunatic triggerhappy player, you`ll get the best weapons and most ammo if you play this style.

The Adventure

You can also obey the warnings, that won`t only tell you where it is dangerous, but also, were less monster-flooded pathes can be opened - if you solve some puzzles. This can be easy stuff like opening a statuette to push a trigger, re-wiring electrical contacts in order to make machinery open. But it can be also quite sophiscated stuff like findign a way to flood a certain area to exactely that point where you can swim up to a hidden exit without flooding everything so much that you will be drown anyway. And yes, you can craft your own bombs. We had that code very basically working in spring / early summer, this video (although graphically inferior, it was the old exe then) shows it pretty good:

Again: This is not the GFX quality the final game will have, nor is the awful Mission log HUD in any way representing what it will look like in final. However, the mechanics are pointing to the right direction.

The RPG

This is only very basically implemented ,we don`t have any itnentions to make a "real" RPG out of it. However, there are certain skills that can be learned. Shooter-styled players will get stronger melee attacks and more precision in headshots e.t.c.
People who solve certain physics / chemistry puzzles, get a bonus on the next one. As an example: If you have analyzed the C4 / Thermite package in level 1, you`ll have twice the chance to find salpeter and carbon for your bomb in level 2.

What is it now, a shooter, an adventure or an RPG?

It`s a genre mix. You can`t get to the end without fighting, and you can`t get to the end without solving puzzles. But in every single level you can make a choice how to play it. And this sometimes even alters the level architecture on the fly ;)