The first-person RPG-shooter Consortium is just a couple of weeks from launch.
The Consortium Kickstarter wrapped up in April with a little over $70,000 in funding, a paltry amount compared to some but well over its $50,000 goal. Described by developer Interdimensional Games as “a first-person story and character-based role-playing shooter set in an interactive world,” Consortium takes a different approach than most other games by condensing its setting into a “micro-environment,” which trades size for interactivity and life.
If any of this rings a bell, it might be because we looked at it back in April, while the Kickstarter was running. I was able to play a preview build at the time and came away impressed: It was incomplete and rough, but showed tremendous potential as an engaging, vaguely Deus Ex-like game with just a hint of Agents of SHIELD in the mix.
I’m a little surprised that the developers were able to go from a rough preview build to launch-ready in less than a year, but that’s where we stand, as Consortium 1.0 will go out to Kickstarter backers on December 2. With the release date less than two weeks away, the team has put out a new trailer showing off gameplay, environments and some of the different ways you’ll be able to approach it. It clearly doesn’t have the visual refinement of a major studio release, but eye candy isn’t the name of this game.
I have no idea whether Consortium has evolved from “potential” to “realization,” but I liked what I saw in the preview enough that I’m really looking forward to finding out. Interdimensional Games has an ARG-style introduction to the Consortium game world on its website, and the game is also up for voting on Steam Greenlight.
