Calvino Noir, a beautifully styled stealth adventure game set in 1930s Vienna, has been announced for the PlayStation 4.
Already in development for iOS and PC, director Dan Waters today (17 June) released a post on PlayStation’s official blog, revealing some of the game’s plot and the works that influenced it.
“The beautiful history of noir cinema is a big inspiration – that’s where we’ve drawn ideas for the look and story of the game,” wrote Waters. “The classic film noir plot and characters are there, but in our own format, which is more closely inspired by films such as Blade Runner, and games such as Deus Ex. The world of Calvino Noir borrows a lot from the war-torn and cruel portrayal of Vienna in The Third Man, one of my favourite films.”
Calvino Noir will require gamers to solve puzzles by using a mixture of playing styles including concealment, sneaking and distraction. The plot focuses on Wilt, a British army deserter who uses his skills for espionage and blackmail. There’s also Arno, a chemical weapon designer and friend of Wilt’s, and Siska, who having been orphaned by the war is now an idealistic young adult looking to fight corruption. The developers are promising an engaging noir-esque narrative and dead-on visual aesthetic, going so far as hiring a professional architect to design all of the buildings to reflect the period.
“Architecture is also a big influence,” said Waters. “We have been looking a lot at building design and architectural drawing styles. It is all about form and light, but in a very different way to film noir. We got our architect friend Ceri Williams to design realistic buildings from that place and time. With the monochrome art style, I think the arches, staircases and pillars all look stunning.”
No official release date has been revealed yet for Calvino Noir, though the team say it’s due out ‘soon’.
