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GHOSTLESS AI Apocalypse Began With a Cold War Cyber Attack
Who do you trust when the machines have learnt how to pass as human? Brazilian indie developer Coffeenauts has revealed more of the alternate history behind GHOSTLESS, its unusual 2.5D action-adventure and colony-building hybrid coming to PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Debuting during The MIX Fall Online Showcase on October 16, the new narrative trailer rewinds to an alternate Cold War where artificial intelligence became another front in the technological race between the United States and the Soviet Union. An American cyber attack eventually caused an experimental Soviet AI superintelligence to turn against humanity, leaving the world’s players to explore 15 years later.
The new GHOSTLESS narrative trailer offers a more detailed look at that history, accompanied rather ominously by Beethoven.
Your Resistance Might Already Have an Android Inside
Players assume the role of the Envoy, sent to investigate rumours that the AI is developing a new secret weapon. After becoming stranded, survival depends on recruiting locals and building a guerrilla resistance capable of fighting back.
We previously covered how GHOSTLESS mixes AI paranoia with action-adventure and colony building when Coffeenauts first revealed the project. The new footage adds considerable context for why trusting those survivors could become one of its more interesting problems.
The titular Ghostless are android infiltrators capable of posing as humans. Returning from an expedition could reveal that a crafting station has been sabotaged or even that another member of the resistance has been murdered.
Players then investigate their own recruits by examining clues, monitoring behaviour, and questioning suspects through a contextual dialogue system. Accuse the right person and an infiltrator is removed. Get it wrong, and an innocent survivor can be executed instead.
Building the Colony Unlocks Bigger Incursions
Beyond the paranoia, GHOSTLESS combines exploration, platforming, and combat with base management. The Envoy ventures through ruined streets, sewers, metro tunnels, Cold War bunkers, and laboratories to find resources and survivors, fighting machines with melee weapons and firearms.
Back at camp, new recruits can be assigned to crafting stations to produce better equipment. Expanding and maintaining the colony is also tied directly to progression, as some machine strongholds cannot be tackled alone. Building a sufficiently capable resistance eventually allows players to launch larger Incursions, opening new portions of the map.
A small Brazilian team of six is developing the project, and they previously created Spacelines from the Far Out. Coffeenauts revealed in June that GHOSTLESS passed 10,000 Steam wishlists within its first 40 hours after announcement.
GHOSTLESS is coming to PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
