Five Things to Look Forward to in Volume

The upcoming stealth-action game Volume, created entirely by British video game developer Mike Bithell, looks like a brilliant entry to the indie scene due to its lush graphics and stunning audio-themed gameplay. We’ve got the lowdown on five of the things we are looking forward to most in this sound (we couldn’t resist) new adventure!

1) The plot is like Robin Hood in the future

A thief called Robert Locksley finds an interesting gadget called 'Volume' that helps him practice stealing in simulated levels. With some advice from the handy AI that is built into the device, Locksley will be uploading footage of these naughty crimes to the internet. Don't worry though, because it's all for a good cause. The big baddie that the sticky-fingered young man will face off against is a nasty CEO of an evil company that's taken over England by the name of Guy Gisborne. It's like an anti-authoritarian, modern version of Robin Hood set in cyberspace.

 2) Gameplay is heavily-inspired by the early Metal Gear games

Metal Gear Solid got itself a virtual reality training expansion pack called Metal Gear Solid: Special Missions, where the protagonist Snake must complete many levels with various objectives like sneaking, assassinations, target practice, as well as less conventional battles against giant monsters and even a gigantic UFO. Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance got itself a big bundle of VR missions as well. Volume quintessentially looks and feels like the sneaking missions from these games, as shown by the familiar third-person gameplay and features - such as the ability to hide yourself in lockers, the guards on patrol with cones showing their field of vision, and much more. You'll even be pinching some valuables on your way through the game, so steal something expensive!

 

 

 

 

3) Its visual style looks great

Again, any avid MGS player will recognize that the minimalistic use of textures on each level is, visually, a bit of a dead ringer to the MGS2 special missions. Not only that, but each mission seems to fade into existence in a similar fashion, fragment by fragment. It's also very colourful, usually adopting a small selection of colours with bright and dark shades on each surface.

4) You can make your own maps

Bundled with the game is a level editor for players to go wild with creativity. It doesn't look too difficult to get used to. Just mash a button to drop whatever you want into the grid of squares - be it walls of varying sizes, shadows and lockers to hide in, enemies and their patrol patterns, laser trip wires, cameras, and more. You can even tweak the wall colours and lighting schemes to give them a more ominous feel. Hopefully there should be a platform for players to go online and share their creations with other players around the world, and who knows, maybe a bit of a competition will be made out of it for the most creative or challenging missions...

 

 

5) Hey, I know that voice!

 

Providing the voices for the characters in the game are some big-name Brits. Locksley, for instance, is voiced by YouTube video-blogger and celebrity Charlie McDonnell. The mysterious AI is played by none other than Danny Wallace, while Andy Serkis is the voice of the evil Gisborne. Based on the snippets in the game's various reveal trailers, they fit their roles perfectly.