Square Enix have announced that indie first person puzzle adventure title The Turing Test is coming to the Switch. The game will launch on Nintendo’s hybrid platform on February 7, and will be priced at £14.99 / $19.99 / €19.99, though you can purchase it at 10 per cent off up until February 21.

In case you’re not aware of the game or what it is, The Turing Test, developed by Bulkhead Interactive, first launched on PC and Xbox One in 2016, before coming out the following year for the PS4. It was one of the first games to be published by Square Enix as part of their indie-focused initiative, called Square Enix Collective.

Though The Turing Test had several issues, overall reception for the game was very positive, and fans enjoy it to this day, with the game drawing praise for its intelligent puzzle design (which is quite evocative of Portal at times), the thematic richness of its story, its soundtrack, and more. If you haven’t given the game a shot, considering doing so when it launches for the Switch a fortnight from now.

Not so long ago, World War 2 shooters were all the rage. There were so many of them, in fact, that there was a glut in the market, and people got sick of them. Then Modern Warfare came along, was a huge success, and everyone shifted their settings to the modern day, to capitalize on its success. Eventually, the modern day setting began to be worn out, but no one obvious candidate arose as a replacement- while some, including Call of Duty itself, pushed for a futuristic setting, others looked back to the past.

For instance, last year’s Battlefield 1 was a World War 1 era shooter- it was hugely successful, however. Maybe that’s what given Square Enix the confidence to go ahead and back Battalion 1944, a World War 2 era shooter by Bulkhead Interactive that they will be publishing and bringing to the market.

“From having partnered with Bulkhead before on the hugely successful The Turing Test, we know they’re a very talented studio making great games,” said Phil Elliott, Director of Community & Indie Development at Square Enix. “We trust Joe and the team as we know what they’re capable of and we see them actively listening to their community. Our relationship is built on a foundation of minimum publisher interference with maximum support where needed. We’ll help nurture and grow the community while Bulkhead can focus on crafting a fantastic FPS experience with Battalion 1944.”

Hopefully, Square puts some proper marketing muscle behind this game- they’re usually good about promoting indie games that they are publishing (see also: just how well they backed Life Is Strange), but one can never be too sure with major publishers.

Bulkhead Interactive’s curious first person puzzle game The Turing Test has been released for the Xbox One and PC. Check out the launch trailer below.

The story and its puzzles mirror a real-life Turing Test of sorts (the test used to prove that a human is indeed human and not a robot). Ava Turing finds herself on the International Space Agency on Jupiter’s moon Europa and navigates a series of puzzles to unearth what exactly happened. She’ll accomplish this by using an Energy Manipulation Tool for different tasks like transferring energy, controlling AI machines and whatnot.

Developed on Unreal Engine 4, The Turing Test is published through the Square Enix Collective and retails for $19.99. It comes from the same studio that developed Pneuma: Breath of Life and is currently working on Battalion 1944.

What are your thoughts on the launch trailer and will you be picking up the game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and stay tuned for more information.

Howard Philpott, creative producer at Bulkhead Interactive, spoke to GamingBolt about the recent Xbox One and PC release, discussing its inspirations, goals and the methods behind all the madness.

"We really don’t shy away from the comparison, who doesn’t want more Portal?!"

The game does look pretty interesting. What can players expect from the game itself?

At its heart, The Turing Test is a first person puzzler set inside a research base on Jupiter’s Ice Moon Europa. It’s a first person puzzler that’s wrapped in mystery and intrigue, as you try and find out what happened to the ground crew stationed within the Europa research base. A good comparison for gamers is that the gameplay is similar to great puzzle games such as The Talos Principle and The Witness merged with in depth story sections similar to narrative experiences like Gone Home. Our aim was to take the puzzle and narrative genres and merge them into one cohesive whole!

What can you tell us about the story of the game and how do the puzzles tie up with it?

So in the game in play as Ava Turing, an engineer for the international Space Agency (ISA). You’re tasked by the Europa Mission’s artificial intelligence system ‘T.O.M’ to head to the surface and find out what has happened to the ground crew on Europa. You quickly discover things are not as they seem, and you are required to solve puzzles only a human could solve… a literal Turing Test.

Be honest with us, how much of this is inspired by Portal?

We really don’t shy away from the comparison, who doesn’t want more Portal?! Whilst the look of the finished game is obviously quite inspired, we originally had a massively detailed geometry with a look more similar to Alien Isolation, but we found players would try and interact with everything in the environment that was nothing to do with the puzzles. This is when we decided (around halfway through development, gulp!) to scrap the look and move over to a cleaner and more readable art style.

This is when we looked at great puzzle games like Portal and QUBE, and saw the reason they worked so well is their art styles completely focused on gameplay first, with colour leading the player to interactions. This inspired to clean and almost clinical look of the test chambers, which really merges gameplay readability with the narrative themes of the game. We then break this up after every 10 puzzles with story sections more similar to the original art style. So whilst we LOVE Portal and it has obviously partially inspired our visuals, The Turing Test is still very unique in its narrative and gameplay mechanics!

"Not being a 300 man in house team allows us to be agile and work with focus. It’s a good benefit of being an indie studio!"

How long of game is The Turing Test?

In our recent gameplay tests it takes a new player from 5-7 hours to complete, without looking into the optional content in the game! Of course, a speed runner who has completed the game could complete it much faster. I personally can’t wait to see the times speed runners can produce, we added sprint exactly for that reason.

How did you guys managed to pull this off, despite working on Battalion 1944?

We’ve been working on The Turing Test ever since our first game ‘Pneuma: Breath of Life’ was released in February 2015. We were pretty much near the end of development on The Turing Test when we decided to start work on the Battalion 1944 prototype for Kickstarter. It was always the plan to release The Turing Test shortly after Kickstarting Battalion 1944, so that we could use all profits from The Turing Test towards development of Battalion. We’ve since scrapped everything in the Kickstarter prototype and have been working on remaking everything from scratch ready for the May 2017 alpha.

In short; we have a fast working, passionate and talented team at Bulkhead Interactive inside and outside of the studio. Not being a 300 man in house team allows us to be agile and work with focus. It’s a good benefit of being an indie studio!

Is there any specific reason why it’s only coming to Xbox One and PC, and not on the PS4?

It’s a timed exclusive on Xbox One, Microsoft really love the game and have really supported our studio get the game to their console first. The game was developed on Steam, hence the simultaneous release on PC and Xbox One. We may look to other platforms in the future!

"The Turing Test is out on the 30th August and I can’t wait to see players’ reactions to the twists in the game."

What kind of graphical options can players expect from the PC version of the game?

Pretty much everything PC gamers expect as the current standard. FOV slider, resolution scaling, the lot!

Is the game going to run at 1080p and 60fps on Xbox One?

The game currently runs at 1080p 30fps. On PC you can completely tweak frame rates and resolutions to suit your system!

How has it been working with Square Enix from a publishing perspective?

It’s been really great actually. They’ve been helping us with our marketing specifically on Steam and aiding us with big booth presence at events around the globe such as Gamescom, Comicon and EGX meaning we’ve been able to tweak the difficulty curve based on player feedback. They’ve also helped us create some really nice marketing assets. It’s allowed us to focus much more on actual game development!

Is there anything else you want to tell us before we let you go?

The Turing Test is out on the 30th August and I can’t wait to see players’ reactions to the twists in the game. The story is not something you can experience through a film or a book. Every single sale of The Turing Test will go directly towards the development of Battalion 1944!

One of the most promising upcoming indie games is The Turing Test, a game set on Europa, one of Jupiter’s Galilean moons, which promises to be a devilishly tricky first person puzzle game. GamingBolt recently had the chance to sit down with Howard Philpott of Bulkhead Interactive, who are developing the game, and we had a chance to ask him some question about the title.

The Turing Test is going to launch on Xbox One and PC as a timed exclusive- we decided to ask him about the reasoning behind this decision, asking him why a PS4 version was skipped. Philpott explained that Microsoft’s enthusiasm and support for the project led to the choice.

“It’s a timed exclusive on Xbox One, Microsoft really love the game and have really supported our studio get the game to their console first,” he said. “The game was developed on Steam, hence the simultaneous release on PC and Xbox One. We may look to other platforms in the future!”

He also confirmed that the game would run at 1080p and 30fps on the Xbox One, though PC players naturally get to pick and choose their own resolution and framerate. “The game currently runs at 1080p 30fps. On PC you can completely tweak framerates and resolutions to suit your system,” he explained.

The Turing Test will launch on Xbox One and PC this month.

Bulkhead Interactive has dated its first person sci-fi puzzle title The Turing Test – it’ll be out on August 30th for Steam and presumably for Xbox One as well.

You take control of Ava Turing, an engineer on the International Space Agency and have to progress through a series of puzzles on Europa, Jupiter’s moon, to prove you’re human. We’re not quite sure but that’s the objective of the Turing Test in real life. There’s a fair amount of environmental manipulation and power transfer that’s required.

The aesthetic is also fairly reminiscent of Portal, if it weren’t obvious enough but The Turing Test seems unique enough on its own to stand out. Check out the latest trailer below to see for yourself.

What are your thoughts on The Turing Test and are you looking forward to playing it? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information.

GamingBolt spoke to communications manager Alex Preece about Battalion 1944 including the desire to return to World War 2 and the kinds of maps that players can expect.

"We’re big shooter fans here and we’ve seen that genre become a bit sour. To us it doesn’t feel like what they’re meant to feel like, they’re going in a direction that doesn’t suit what we want; and that’s fine."

How did Bulkhead Interactive start out? How did you eventually decide on developing a shooter, especially when the contributing studios had worked on Pneuma: Breath of Life – a first person puzzler?

We made Pneuma off $0. We were living off of pot noodles and working crazy hours! It was a punt and a shot in the dark but it paid off, we managed to make enough to bank roll the studio into making The Turing Test and ultimately the prototype of Battalion 1944.

For a multiplayer shooter, one has to ask: Why a World War 2 shooter, especially since they were all the craze almost 8 years ago?

I think you’ve answered your question there! They were all the craze 8 years ago, we were a part of that, and everyone in our team grew up with that. We’re big shooter fans here and we’ve seen that genre become a bit sour. To us it doesn’t feel like what they’re meant to feel like, they’re going in a direction that doesn’t suit what we want; and that’s fine. But we feel we’re developers of the people! We’re trying to make a game for gamers like us that don’t want fragmented communities, hackers, or pay walls.

Where will Battalion 1944‘s maps take us? Can you tell us about any familiar locations we may be visiting?

The amount of maps is totally scalable. We will always go for quality over quantity. We can currently confirm 4 locations for definite which we announced in our Kickstarter video such as Carentan, Sainte-Mère-Église and a D-Day map. But there will be many more in the works.

What weapons can we look forward to in the game? Will there be fixed classes for players to choose or can load-outs be customized?

Currently we haven’t finished all of our weapon discussions. However we know for sure that we will include all the iconic weapons of WW2 such as the M1 Garand, Kar 98, Thompson and Mp40, And Yes we will be including sniper rifles. The decision between class systems over customization has not been decided yet, however at the moment those discussions are leading away from fixed classes and more towards flexible customizable loadouts.

"We’ll be looking into balancing all weapons in Battalion during our Alpha/Beta sessions. It’s important to us that nobody is seen to have any advantage with an overpowered weapon."

What kinds of unlockables will be in the game? Is there a cosmetic system of sorts for players to customize their characters?

All unlockables will be cosmetic, no over powered weapons, abilities or perks. Just you and your weapon. Players will be rewarded for their skill and achievements. We are looking into uniform, character and weapon customization.

Can you tell us more about the “skill-based” nature of the game? How does Battalion 1944 differentiate itself in this era of Battlefield and Call of Duty?

We are differentiating ourselves by going back to basics and ridding our game of overpowered unlocks. Everyone is on a level playing field and we believe your skill should be determined by your play, not through these unfair overpowered unlocks & abilities. Battalion learns from the skill based gameplay of classic competitive shooters and merges it with the stunning visuals that our team can produce, utilizing next-gen techniques such as motion capture, physically based rendering and photogrammetry to make Battalion a truly next gen competitive shooter.

In terms of multiplayer modes, will there be anything akin to what’s seen in the modern shooters i.e. Team Deathmatch, Control, Domination, etc.?

All core game modes, CTF, TDM, & S&D. Players/server hosts will be able to change player limits. For the official servers we’ll adjust rule sets based on community feedback! Also looking at including various objective based game modes.

What are your thoughts on weapon balancing, especially in this age of constant complaining and nerfs?

We’ll be looking into balancing all weapons in Battalion during our Alpha/Beta sessions. It’s important to us that nobody is seen to have any advantage with an overpowered weapon. Just have the advantage with how skilled they are in using their weapons. This is something that will require a lot of testing and feedback to get right, that is where interacting with our supportive community can really help us.  We are incredibly focused on making Battalion competitive and fair.

How will matchmaking work in Battalion 1944? Will there be ranked playlists for hardcore players to partake in?

Companies like ESL have been hugely helpful with figuring out the best possible way to use matchmaking in Battalion but as of yet we have nothing set in stone. Our back-end team are currently focused on building our BattleRank system.

"We’ve got a great team that know what they’re doing. Like most big studios, we basically run our own version of UE4 that’s designed to help streamline the creation of Battalion."

Will the game run at 1080p and 60fps on both the PS4 and Xbox One? What are your targets for consoles?

Although our targets are for 1080p and 6ofps we are stressing how highly unlikely that is on console. This is due to Unreal Engine being a very complex engine and the consoles lacking in power, unfortunately for us we don’t have a 200 man team. That’s what it takes to get a game like this to run at that specification

I am assuming that you’ve heard rumors about an upgraded PS4 (code name Neo) flying around the internet (please click here). As you can see, there is a marginal improvement in CPU but impressive improvements in the GPU and Memory bandwidth. As someone who is in the development industry, what is your take on this? What kind of improvements do you think this will result into? (this question is from a theoretical perspective since nothing is confirm yet)

Obviously we can’t comment on this, but we can say Battalion will be a great experience for PlayStation users and we are actively working with Sony to make that experience as exceptional as possible.
Do you see devs aiming higher performance parameters for Neo and delivering sub-optimal performance on current base model PS4? (this question is from a theoretical and developer perspective since nothing is confirm yet)

Obviously we can’t comment on this, but we can say Battalion will be a great experience for PlayStation users and we are actively working with Sony to make that experience as exceptional as possible.

Are there any plans to launch a DX12 version of the PC and Xbox One builds?

We’re totally looking into these features and seeing how we can utilize them in our development pipeline or not. We have a great relationship with Microsoft devs so we’ll see what we can do!

The game is going to run on Unreal Engine 4. What can you tell us about the modifications you have made to achieve the desired graphical results?

Trade Secrets! We’ve got a great team that know what they’re doing. Like most big studios, we basically run our own version of UE4 that’s designed to help streamline the creation of Battalion. This is one of the pillars we’ve been working on from day 1 so that further down the line Battalion‘s development can feel seamless.

"Giving PC players maximum flexibility and control is vital to us. The best competitive games give the control to players."

Do you think the resolution and fps debate for the PS4 and X1 has been blown out of proportion?

Yes and no, it’s frustrating as a developer to get blamed for bad frame rate, because chances are the graphics are pretty good! But if we lower the graphics to benefit the frame rate, we get flamed for having bad graphics, we can’t win! Players need to understand the job of a developer more, our community have been excellent and understanding our process in making Battalion, we just need the rest of the gaming world to follow their suit!

What can you tell us about the PC version in terms of graphical settings and visual effects?

Giving PC players maximum flexibility and control is vital to us. The best competitive games give the control to players. We also want to make sure that by changing the controls, players aren’t given an unfair advantage over others. Battalion is all about balance, we don’t want to risk this by breaking the game with silly console hacks!

Are you planning for a simultaneous release across all three versions and when is the game coming out?

Battalion will be released on all platforms, we have the equipment, time and money to have Battalion available to everyone. However, the order of release, dates, and times may vary subject to discussions with the platform holders themselves. This is with Battalion‘s best interests in mind for players on all platforms.

Is there anything else you want to tell us before we let you go?

We are just so excited to model this game around the community that want it. We just need the community to trust us to deliver something amazing because we don’t want to release anything too soon. We just can’t wait to see people’s reaction when it is finished because we are trying our hardest to bring the golden age of gaming back to the 21st century.

Bulkhead Interactive, which worked on Pneuma: Breath of Life, showcased some new footage of its upcoming sci-fi FPS puzzler The Turing Test, developed on Unreal Engine 4 and releasing in August for PC and Xbox One.

The Turing Test sees Ava Turing, a space engineer going through a mysterious tale of introspection to discover the secrets of Europa. What lies at the heart of Europa and how will you transcend your existence as a mere human? The Turing Test will explore that store and promises to challenge gamers in the process.

You’ll be using an Energy Manipulation tool to move energy from one object to another, powering up AI machine, manipulating structures and moving through the story. To make things even more interesting, funds from The Turing Test will actually go into the budget for Bulkhead’s Battalion 1944, a WW2 shooter, releasing in late 2017.

What are your thoughts on The Turing Test? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more.

Bulkhead Interactive’s Battalion 1944 may use DirectX 12 on the Xbox One, according to the game’s communications manager, Alex Preece. When asked whether players can expect a DX12 version of the game on the PC and Xbox One, Alex stated that: “We’re totally looking into these features and seeing how we can utilise them in our development pipeline or not. We have a great relationship with Microsoft devs so we’ll see what we can do!”

It will be interesting to see whether the Xbox One version will use a DX12 build but given the console already has a game or two which utilizes the latest API, a DX12 version of Battalion 1944 might be on the cards after all.

Furthermore, when we asked him about their opinion on the rumored PS4K NEO, he stated that he cannot comment on rumors but they assured that Battalion 1944 will be great experience for PS4 users. “Battalion will be a great experience for PlayStation users and we are actively working with Sony to make that experience as exceptional as possible,” he added.

Battalion 1944 is due this year for the PS4, Xbox One and PC.

The PS4 and the Xbox One may have seemed to be powerful upgrades over the PS3 and the Xbox 360 back when they launched, but that was a matter of circumstance more than anything else- a reminder that the Xbox 360 and PS3 were almost ten years old at that point, and they were beginning to get long in the tooth. The PS4 and Xbox One naturally seemed like major steps up over those consoles.

But what one tends to forget that the two machines were never ‘high end,’ not in the way that the Dreamcast or the N64 or the Xbox 360 or PS3 were at the time of their release- no, the PS4 and Xbox One were equivalent to midrange PCs at the time of their launch, at best, and as time has gone on, they’ve struggled to keep up with the games being developed. So much so that now, less than three years after the launch of these systems, Sony and allegedly Microsoft are already preparing spec bumps for them.

This weakness of hardware means that games can often not run at a proper resolution and/or framerate on the PS4 and Xbox One- as Alex Preece of Bulkhead Interactive told us in an exclusive interview, the upcoming Battalion 1944 most likely won’t be running at 1080p and 60fps on either the Xbox One or the PS4.

“Although our targets are for 1080p and 6ofps we are stressing how highly unlikely that is on console,” Preece said. “This is due to Unreal Engine being a very complex engine and the consoles lacking in power, unfortunately for us we don’t have a 200 man team. That’s what it takes to get a game like this to run at that specification.”

That is a scathing indictment of how weak these consoles are, if there ever was any. If anything, a statement like this highlights the need for an upgraded PS4 and Xbox One more than anything else.