Paranormal Intelligence Bureau (PIB) is a series of turn-based tactics games in the style of XCOM and Final Fantasy Tactics. The games will focus on agents of the Bureau's fight against horrors based on Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Or as he himself would call it, Yog-Sothothery. PIB Origins will explore the origins of the cast of PIB.
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown" - H.P Lovecraft
Introducing PIB Origins
The main Paranormal Intelligence Bureau game is a huge project. Because of this, we decided some time ago that PIB is going to be a series of smaller games, exploring the origin stories of the cast of PIB. Enter PIB Origins.
Our current cast consists of The Soldier, The Medic and The Parapsychologist. These three will be the main characters through the PIB Origins series. The first story in PIB Origins will be the origin story of the Soldier.
PIB Origins, a series of smaller turn-based horror games
PIB Origins will be split into three smaller stories, which are part of a bigger story arch. Each story will feature three episodes. This way we can get PIB out much earlier to you, the player. In the past we stated that the Lovecraft mythos plays a huge role in PIB. But how does Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos interact with the PIB-universe you ask?
To pique the interest of all you Lovecraft fans out there, we made a spoiler-free list of some select entities playing a role in the PIB-universe.
- Great Cthulhu and the Great Old Ones.
- The daemon sultan Azathoth and the Other Gods and their soul and messenger Nyarlathotep.
- All-knowing, all-seeing Yog-Sothoth, the gate, the key and the guardian. Said to be guarding the veil between realities, time and space.
- Lovecraft's more mortal races like The Elder Things with their abominable Shoggoths, the Mi-Go from the planet Yuggoth and the time travelling Great Race of Yith.
- The increasing corruption from the thinning of the veil also transforms the worlds flora and fauna into the more common monsters of legend: Vampires, Werewolves, Ghouls, Zombies, Ghosts and more.
Furthermore, we can now reveal that the first episode of PIB Origins will be available for purchase in 2018!
The Zebrina
Like we mentioned, our first origin story will introduce The Soldier. He served on board the infamous ship, The Zebrina. According to official sources, The Zebrina was transporting coal from Falmouth, UK to St. Brieuc, France. Two days later, the ship was (in)famously found ashore on Rozel Point, south of Cherbourg, with no sign of the crew. The first episode of PIB Origins will include our version of what actually happened to the crew during those two days in 1917.
Screenshot of The Zebrina
PIB's first episode will focus on the two days after the departure from Falmouth in October, 1917. The channel in World War I was already dangerous with German submarines sinking British and French ships. So the game will feature German submarines of the time. You can see our version of a German submarine below. Be warned though, in our version of the story the crew might encounter far worse things than German marines. More on this in upcoming blog posts.
German submarine featuring in PIB. The U-21
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As an extra treat, we present to you this theme music that our composer, Tristan Gray, exclusively composed for the Paranormal Intelligence Bureau. This will feature in the game. He calls it "Zebrina". We will leave the rest up to your imagination.
Great work. Always wanted a paranormal styled Xcom. :D
Thank you! We're glad you're excited about the game. Be sure to sign up to our newsletter to get the latest news about Paranormal Intelligence Bureau