New WW1 Survival Horror Game, ‘Ad Infinitum’, Looks Seriously Grim
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Featured Image Credit: Nacon North America
The First World War was a horrific time in human history. Now, Ad Infinitum is here to make the years of 1914 to 1918, where military and civilian casualties ran to 40 million, including the post-war aftermath, seem so much worse.
There are reasons why only very few modern stories, fantasy tales and horror productions choose World War I as a setting. It doesn't have the slightly misplaced, certainly jingoistic 'glory' of the Second World War; and is so far in the past, over a century, that people making fiction today don't have a personal family connection, like they do the subsequent conflict of the late 1930s and '40s. I didn't grow up with tales of the Great War, but I did hear all about World War II. It's also a time that's known to be unrelentingly miserable, more brutal than any war before it, and it left mental, physical and financial scars on millions around the world. It's not a period that easily lends itself to entertainment.
Here's the new trailer for Ad Infinitum
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But Ad Infinitum is just that: an entertainment product, newly revealed as part of the Nacon Connect live stream that took place on July 6. As PSU.com reports, this game will (at least partially) set its survival horror gameplay in the trenches and no-mans-land stretches of the First World War. You can watch its very brief reveal trailer in the player above.
Except, that's actually a re-reveal trailer - Ad Infinitum was originally announced in 2015 (here's a trailer). Now set for a 2023 release - for consoles (no idea regards cross-gen, but PSU states it's coming to PlayStation 5) and PC - the game's description, from the trailer's YouTube page, reads as follows:
"The war may be over, but for you, the nightmare never ended. Can you say the fight is truly over if you're left fighting for your sanity? Will you even live to see another night?
"In Ad Infinitum, you play a conscripted German soldier returning home after the Great War, but the trauma you experienced in the trenches continues to haunt you. Each night hallucinations filled with horrific creatures, death traps, and mysteries mark your path to recovery. Overcome them to free yourself from your trauma and tear the veil of other, perhaps even more terrible mysteries."
NGL, some of that sets alarm bells off in my head - fighting for sanity, mental health as an enemy, you know, those kinds of vibes are rarely welcome. And they've been done to death already, and often poorly. And trivialising World War I isn't really the move, is it. We'll wait and see on this one - but no doubt it already looks like the kind of experience that fans of deeply unsettling video games will be relishing.
Topics: Xbox, News, PlayStation, PC
