I recently found out that the Polish game studo Starward Industries are making a game based on Polish author Stanisław Lem's 1964 science fiction novel "The Invincible". The game's site has some tantalizing images and a teaser trailer, but so far not very much information about actual gameplay, other than that it's a "first-person adventure thriller".
The information on the site indicates that the story won't be a faithful adaptation of the novel's story, but uses its concepts for another, more complex story (including apparently some kind of political conflict between factions of the space crew). Which is understandable, since the original story is by modern science fiction standards fairly simple. It was probably groundbreaking at the time, but the central concept (what if machines could evolve into life?) has been imitated and elaborated on by much sci-fi since then. It's certainly not as complex as some of Lem's other novels, such as Solaris. I'm curious what Starward will do with the concepts, and what parts of the novel will be in the game. Will we see the apocalyptic nuclear battle, for example? Personally I'm looking forward to it if only because it's a retro-futuristic science fiction game with a connection to Poland, and I've been fascinated by another game that fits that description before.
Reading up on the game, there is one thing that worries me. Apparently Starward Industries describes themselves as being "founded by a group of creators who were instrumental to the success of several AAA franchises including: The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077". Uh oh...
The information on the site indicates that the story won't be a faithful adaptation of the novel's story, but uses its concepts for another, more complex story (including apparently some kind of political conflict between factions of the space crew). Which is understandable, since the original story is by modern science fiction standards fairly simple. It was probably groundbreaking at the time, but the central concept (what if machines could evolve into life?) has been imitated and elaborated on by much sci-fi since then. It's certainly not as complex as some of Lem's other novels, such as Solaris. I'm curious what Starward will do with the concepts, and what parts of the novel will be in the game. Will we see the apocalyptic nuclear battle, for example? Personally I'm looking forward to it if only because it's a retro-futuristic science fiction game with a connection to Poland, and I've been fascinated by another game that fits that description before.
Reading up on the game, there is one thing that worries me. Apparently Starward Industries describes themselves as being "founded by a group of creators who were instrumental to the success of several AAA franchises including: The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077". Uh oh...