Wadjet Eye Games has announced the impending release of Gemini Rue, a sci-fi thriller that adventure game fans need to take a look at.
Telltale Games isn’t the only company keeping the adventure game genre alive, there are also plenty of independent outfits like Wadjet Eye Games doing the same. For the company’s next game, they’ve teamed up with Joshua Nuernberger to publish the Independent Game Festival Student Showcase winning Gemini Rue, a sci-fi noir adventure that follows two very different characters that are connected through fate, despite being a galaxy apart.
Players begin the game in the shoes of Azriel Odin, ex-assassin and now police officer looking for a defector from the violent Boryokudan crime syndicate on the planet Barracus. Later, players take on the role of a man known only as Delta-Six, who awakens in a hospital after having his memory wiped by a bunch of doctors, Total Recall style.
Wadjet was nice enough to let me take a look at a preview build, and it reeled me in from the get-go. Keep in mind that I was already a sci-fi, noir, and adventure game fan, so it’s almost like Nuernberger made this game just for me. Thanks, man.
I’m a sucker for pixelated rain effects like those in Gemini Rue, but that’s not all the game has going for it. Barracus is the epitome of a dystopia, with “juice” addicts huddled in dilapidated alleyways, loudspeakers periodically informing citizens that enforcement has been dispatched to take care of “defectors,” and scary guys in suits watching your every move just waiting for you to step out of line. This is all within the first few minutes, by the way.
Gemini Rue plays like your typical adventure game, giving players the ability to use “eye,” “hand,” and “mouth” icons on the environment, but it throws in a “foot” icon too just in case you need to kick a door down here or there. Players have a futuristic communicator at their disposal, which keeps track of notes and important details while additionally serving as a phone. An interesting component of Gemini Rue also comes from the inclusion of a gun in Odin’s inventory, which is actually used for action-based gunplay sequences.
If you look closely, you might even see some interesting cameos in Gemini Rue by characters from popular media. Wadjet Eye has been known for quality adventure games like the Blackwell series and Puzzle Bots, but Gemini Rue might be one of its most intriguing yet.
Gemini Rue will be available from Wadjet Eye Games on February 24 with preorders currently open. The downloadable version is priced at $14.99, while a limited edition CD version is also available for $24.99 that includes the game on disc, the full MP3 soundtrack, professional packaging, and additional access to the downloadable version. Adventure game fans, take note.
