IGF 2012 Main Competition Entrant

Deep Sea

Company: WRAUGHK (Austin, TX - United States)

Game Website: http://www.wraughk.com/deepsea

Description:
Deep Sea is a game about being vulnerable.

In this audio-only game, players don a mask that obscures their vision and takes over their hearing, plunging them into a world of blackness occupied only by the sound of their own breathing and the rumbles made by unseen terrors.

Survival means the careful tracking of a liquid constellation of alien sounds, requiring the player to focus intently to the point of suppressing their own breathing, further reinforcing the sensation of claustrophic isolation. The player aims, fires their weapon and hopes to hear the creature cry out in pain, but more often than not the sound they hear is their shot disappearing uselessly into the void.

The sense of being surrounded by invisible dangers is reinforced by the reality of playing the game in a public space, with the player knowing that all around are people they can neither hear nor see. At the same time spectators can watch the gyrations of the player’s body and hear their voice but have no access to the world the player is experiencing, and so remain helpless to rescue the player from their watery fate.

Video:

If you see any information about Deep Sea that needs to be corrected or updated, contact the IGF Chairman.