Meet Nero, Xbox One's least understood indie game

[THUMBS]

Jellyfish are "proof of the beauty of the universe", in case you were wondering
It's easy for an indie game to come out of nowhere, but it's less common to see an entire studio phase loudly into existence as Nero developer Storm in a Teacup did. Suddenly, overnight, a multinational team with AAA pedigree existed in a villa in Rome, making a next-gen indie game we'd never heard of. It's quite an entrance, and one the company's clearly proud of - they've remained curiously tight-lipped about their work ever since.

Barring some cryptic comments, the world's most baffling teaser trailer (see below - you'll know you've got the right one when you hear a cut-price Stephen Fry talking about foam) and an announcement that the game's coming to Xbox One (the only console format it's been formally announced for, although it is slated for Wii U), there's been nothing in the way of hard fact for months now.

So what do we know? Well, that you play the shorter of the two hooded, xenon-weeping figures shown in that trailer, that you solve environmental puzzles from a first-person perspective (one example given is that you'll be using summonable lanterns to reveal direction-pointing shadows) and that there are tonnes of airborne jellyfish. I once interviewed creative director Carlo Bianchi for another magazine, and he informed me that jellyfish are "proof of the beauty of the universe". Make of that what you will.

But the game itself is fairly opaque. It's not truly a visual novel - there's free movement, not to mention at least one ability that looks like a psychotropic take on Bioshock's plasmids. But it's not quite a Myst-style ascetic puzzler either - from the little we've heard from Bianchi and executive director Alberto Belli (who was also - represent - editor of OXM Italia), a huge amount of focus has been put into the active storyline. Whatever it is.

t's not necessarily a healthy approach PR - if the game ends up totally different to expectations, or weaker than the sum of its promised parts, no one's likely to cut it much slack - but I can't help but feel intrigued. If only to know what the hell that teaser trailer is going on about.

Source: http://www.totalxbox.com/78375/previ...od-indie-game/