PaperSeven Studio and Steadfast Interactive’s Blackwood Crossing is an upcoming first-person adventure game about a brother and sister named Scarlett and Finn on a train that covers the loss of their parents, loneliness and some rather odd occurrences that begin to crop up on their long ride to their destination.
The debut trailer for Blackwood Crossing gives gamers a first-glimpse at the indie title due for release on the Xbox One, PS4 and Steam in early 2017. The game is being headed up by former Disney Black Rock Studio developers, the same minds who brought you the criminally underrated Split/Second (and yes, that game is actually the better of the two when compared to Blur). The story is being written by Oliver Reid-Smith from The Room.
You can check out the debut trailer below, which gives gamers a small taste of the gameplay, the cinematics and the game’s whimsical art-style.
There’s definitely a lot of indie vibes cruising through each frame of that trailer. The indie-folk music and the combination of the story elements reminds me a little bit of Dontnod’s Life is Strange and a bit of Martin Clapp and Geoff Lindsey’s The Flying Machine. However, there’s that hint of Donnie Darko in there with the bunny, the black goo and the people with the masks on.
There’s obviously a lot of thematic elements at play in Blackwood Crossing that will likely require an actual playthrough to fully grasp all of the disparate imagery being tossed around in the trailer. But it’s a cool looking concept that seems to play on a mutated imagination and the fragile psyche of a young brother and sister. The people in the masks instantly remind me of We Happy Few, but I get the feeling there’s something a lot more subliminal going on involving those elements.
Unfortunately there isn’t too much more to go on other than what’s on display in the trailer. We’ll have to wait until more impressions and hands-on previews spill out for the game during its appearance at this year’s GamesCom in Cologne, Germany.
You can look for the magical and imaginative adventure game to arrive on home consoles and PC starting next year in 2017. For further info feel free to visit the game’s official website.