Oddworld Inhabitants let loose a teaser trailer for Oddworld: Soulstorm, an upcoming project for undisclosed systems prepping to release at an undisclosed time. The teaser is a energetic cinematic featuring two train conductors desperately trying to outrun some machine-gun totting enemies who have swooped in to slow them down.

Instead of slowing down, the duo decide to speed up and keep the train moving while being peppered with machine gun fire.

Things get a little worse for wear when the bottles they use for fuel run dry and the train line approaches a factory, at which point the teaser shuts off.

According to the Oddworld Inhabitants, the Oddworld: Soulstorm teaser was running in real-time, in-engine on the Unity 3D technology at a full 60 frames per second.

It’s a technical achievement that a cinematic was basically on display that was designed to mimic in-game play. Whether or not this is a hint at what’s to come or just a demonstration is still not entirely clear.

If you head to the YouTube description page you’ll note that the developers simply state that the trailer is designed to showcase rendering techniques that you’re using for the upcoming Oddworld: Soulstorm. Another trailer hosted on another YouTube channel hints at a 2020 release, which seems a little more likely given that there’s zero information available about the game itself.

If the rendering techniques we see in the trailer are going to be used in real-time gameplay, then it’s super impressive to say the least. What specific techniques, though? It’s hard to say. Global illumination? Screen space reflections? Multipass dynamic shadows?

They didn’t give a breakdown of what they were testing and for what purposes, so it’s tough to gauge what the aim was exactly. Is this for next-gen consoles? Is this to help improve rendering and performance efficiency? Is it to test how far Unity is capable of going when it comes to producing high-end renders at stable 60fps? I’m sure we’ll find out more as Oddworld Inhabitants has partnered with Unity, and will likely offer a more detailed look at their ambitious new project at the Game Developers Conference.

For more info be sure to stay tuned in at the official Oddworld website.