The MIX's Game Dev Direct revealed that a new game is on its way from Dear Villagers, the indie-focused publishing label of Plug In Digital. Developed by Nameless XIII, Ashwalkers is a narratively-focused adventure set in a future world that exists in a condition we would do well to prevent.
Nameless XIII is a new studio helmed by Hervé Bonin, who is best known for co-founding DONTNOD. The team consists of not thirteen but seven individuals who "craft stories of survival, games where you face difficult choices in a hostile world."
Judging from the synopsis, Ashwalkers lives up to that description. It places four adventurers in a harsh world set 200 years after a geological disaster and tasks them with finding a safe haven for their people. This endeavor requires the traveling companions to cross a post-apocalyptic wasteland with "complex moral dilemmas" and limited rations and equipment.
"We are huge fans of 'Choose your own adventure' books," said Bonin, who co-founded the new studio. "Our ambition is to combine that sense of a detailed unfolding world with the interactivity of a video game, a game where every choice matters. The player feedback we have gotten for our public demo in the latest Steam Festival was extremely positive so we are super excited to let players explore the world of Ashwalkers."
Appropriately, the game boasts a black-and-white aesthetic, with limited use of color. There are 34 separate endings, which suggests your journey through the wasteland of the future might take all sorts of interesting twists and turns even though zombies seem to be MIA.
Ashwalkers will arrive on Steam on April 15, exactly one month from now. It's a long wait, so let's hope there are no geological disasters between now and then.
