"Even the innuendo between Hana and Rain feels like it’s out of the PlayStation One era. The writing crosses a fine line between brashfully cheesy and decently compelling."

Cut to several years later with Sushee’s crowd-funded Fear Effect Sedna. Unlike previous entries, Sedna is part isometric action shooter, part tactical RPG and small bits of cover-shooting and sneaking around. How do you consolidate the previous games’ flair for cinematics and stealth action within such a format? Moreover, considering the kitschy writing and near-B-movie flair that the characters had, how can Sedna update that for the modern age?

The answers to those questions actually form a key part of Fear Effect Sedna‘s appeal. Missions are broken up with an abundance of cutscenes, deaths are vividly cinematic to the point of being excessive and the animated vibe is handled competently. Even the innuendo between Hana and Rain feels like it’s out of the PlayStation One era. The writing crosses a fine line between brashfully cheesy and decently compelling.

It helps that the main story has some intrigue with the premise of stealing a statuette for a mysterious client. However, in the beginning, we see Rain’s former (?) lover Glas taking a plane ticket from a mysterious man while battling something and producing fish guts instead of his gun. This part was significantly less compelling and more on the side of horribly cheesy.

"Despite characters animating and moving better in cutscenes with improved facial expressions, they’re not a big leap forward from Fear Effect 2."

The voice work likely doesn’t help – it’s comfortably numb (or terribly awkward) from the get-go, which doesn’t deviate too far from the original games but is still weak overall. The story continues to elevate into intriguing supernatural circumstances with cross-dimensional shenanigans  but the voice acting and overall script don’t get any better.

Again, these are things that you may reject entirely and not just because you didn’t play the original games. Fear Effect has always had a particular appeal to its presentation but Sedna has several missteps. Despite characters animating and moving better in cutscenes with improved facial expressions, they’re not a big leap forward from Fear Effect 2. The soundtrack is actually pretty good, meandering through neo-noir with deep synths and techno, thus being the sole highlight of the experience.

But it’s not the aesthetics that will ultimately determine whether you’ll stick with Sedna – it’s the gameplay. The game presents itself as a tactical, isometric shooter with characters having different abilities – Hana can hit multiple targets, Rain can taze them and Glas can throw grenades – and others opening up later. You can take cover, roll to the side and pause the action midway to issue commands to your party. The Fear Gauge returns as well, granting you increased damage when it goes haywire but also making you easier to kill (which can be allayed with sedatives and the like). It’s also possible to switch between characters, something which the game makes use of during certain puzzle sequences and missions.

"Not needing to be stealthy during a rooftop infiltration but doing so while tailing someone, only to kill his entire security detail a few minutes later, is perfectly normal apparently."

The problem with the whole tactical aspect is that it’s often more effective to just go in guns blazing without worrying about any of it. Many times, I would tell my team to take position at certain points and execute certain abilities. After that, they’d stand stupidly in place while either I or they ate numerous bullets. Even worse, I couldn’t find a way to scroll the map while paused. So if I wanted to position my squad for an ambush, it just wasn’t possible.

Combat itself seems to benefit less from the cover-based aspect since enemies will frequently rush you, not that taking cover is intuitive enough anyway. So really, you’re better off just playing it in real-time, focusing on one enemy after the next so your party can team-shot and wipe out foes. You can also roll from side to side during this – it’s so important that I often forgot I could use it. So flawed is the combat that it feels like there are a number of medkits to compensate for all the damage you’ll inevitably receive.

And while I mentioned the sleekly produced cutscenes, the actual stages are pretty bare-bones and mundane. In fact, many areas look so samey with their box-like arrangements of shelves, tables, computer servers, actual boxes and whatnot. It’s not impossible to have environments that are distinct and feel interesting to fight in – Shadowrun: Hong Kong is a superb example. Even if the overall aesthetics aren’t considered, the stages just feel way too routine and boring. Also with regards to stealth, don’t worry if you can’t stay quiet during certain missions. Not needing to be stealthy during a rooftop infiltration but doing so while tailing someone, only to kill his entire security detail a few minutes later, is perfectly normal apparently.

"It’s not like Fear Effect Sedna is offensively bad (except when you mess up a puzzle for the dozenth time in a row) but it does nothing to endear you. "

This being Fear Effect, it only makes sense that there would be puzzles. Honestly, my experience with them was hit or miss. I didn’t mind resizing triangles and rhombuses while hacking as Rain but going back through the initial stage, just to figure out how to disarm the trap on some cargo? Trying to figure out the passcode for the door leading forward to this elegant art collection? Oh and if you don’t solve them successfully, you’ll witness the characters killed in all sorts of gruesome ways.

On the one hand, there seems to be a deliberately old-school aspect to the puzzle solving as you make observations, fail at the solutions and try again. On the other, it doesn’t feel like the game does much to naturally lead you to solutions other than “What, you didn’t notice that one thing? Well, you’re dead now.” Not all puzzles are like this though and there are certain instances – like moving walls to successfully avoid being detected by cameras as you run across – that work fairly well.

Fear Effect Sedna‘s stylish presentation and understanding of the old games’ atmosphere feels severely let down by the terrible tactical action, bad AI, boring level design and annoying cover shooting. Even what should be the biggest appeals of the game, the voice acting and writing, just feel flat as a whole. It’s not like Fear Effect Sedna is offensively bad (except when you mess up a puzzle for the dozenth time in a row) but it does nothing to endear you.

This game was reviewed on PC.

Fear Effect Sedna, the upcoming game in the classic horror game series, is almost here- and when it launches, it will be coming to PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. However, when it does come out, the game will not be supporting specific graphical enhancements for the upgraded PS4 Pro and Xbox One X consoles.

Sushee, the folks behind the upcoming game, confirmed the lack of any enhancements on the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro for the game in a statement to GamingBolt.”The PS4 Pro and Xbox One X will be supported, but nothing will be added, it will the same result as on regular platforms,” Benjamin Anseaume, founder of Sushee, confirmed.

While that’s a bit of a bummer, it’s not actually that abnormal for several games to not support enhancements on the newer consoles, either- as an example, a game like Persona 5 has nothing in the way of PS4 Pro enhancements, and it was one of the biggest PS4 games that launched last year. It’s a shame, but I have to imagine for smaller scale releases, something like this ends up making far more sense.

Sushee’s Fear Effect Sedna, a true blue sequel to the cel-shaded action title from the PlayStation 1 era, will be releasing on March 6th for consoles and PC. The developer also released a new trailer showcasing the game’s isometric perspective, real-time combat and gruesome deaths. Check it out below.

Taking place four years after the first Fear Effect, this title sees Hana living with Rain in Hong Kong, servitude to the Triad ended. Deke is no longer in touch with the pair while Glas has gone back to the United States. However, when Hana receives a mission to recover a statuette in France and things escalate, it’ll be interesting to see if the team can reunite for one last run.

Fear Effect Sedna isn’t the only title in the franchise releasing this year. A remake of the first game is still due in 2018. Expect more information once Fear Effect Sedna releases for Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One and PC in March.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyV7_7PP-r0

The cult hit Fear Effect series will be returning with Fear Effect Sedna, the third entry in the franchise which will be set four years after the first game (the second game was actually a prequel to the original). The title which was announced via Kickstarter, will be launching on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and – wait for it – Nintendo Switch.

That’s right, the series will be making its Nintendo debut with this game as well, as developers Sushee have confirmed their intent to launch on Nintendo’s hit hybrid too. Well, I say debut, but Fear Effect Reinvented, a remake of the original game, is due to hit the same platforms some time next year, and might actually be the franchise’s inaugural effort on the Switch.

The game will be published by Square Enix (who now hold the rights; the original games were published by Eidos Interactive). No more details are known at the moment, but hopefully we learn more over the coming months.

Square Enix Collective had a little surprise for Fear Effect fans during Gamescom week. It’s confirmed that Fear Effect will receive a remake in the form of Fear Effect Reinvented, which launches in 2018 for the Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch. Sushee, the developer in charge of Fear Effect Sedna, will be handling the remake which features improved HD visuals and controls. The fixed camera angles still remain though.

Interestingly, Sushee’s Kickstarter-funded project for Fear Effect Sedna is what led to the remake gaining traction. Sushee founder Benjamin Anseaume said he was amazed by the support for Fear Effect Sedna and the franchise in general among fans.

“At the same time, we realized that as well as offering established fans something new with Sedna, it would be great to introduce fresh players to Fear Effect by remaking that first great adventure. Fear Effect Reinvented will capture the same spirit and atmosphere as the original game, but it’ll bring it into the present with drastically improved visuals, tweaked controls and other exciting extras,” said Anseaume.

The announcement trailer features Hana Tsu-Vachel, one of the main characters, and the significantly revamped graphics in all their glory. While no release window was provided, Fear Effect Reinvented should be an excellent addition to 2018’s games lineup. Interestingly enough, Fear Effect Sedna is still billed as releasing in 2017 despite no concrete date being provided yet. You can check out the free demo here though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLG3VLiNnlw

GamingBolt spoke to Sushee CEO Benjamin Anseaume about Fear Effect’s return, what’s changed with the move to a more tactical strategy style of gameplay and much more.

"On some aspect, we want to be very true to the two first games, on others things; we want to show that Sedna is another game, 15 years after the second one."

How long have you been trying to get Fear Effect Sedna made? What benefits did turning to Kickstarter offer?

We first pitched our idea back in February 2015, as soon as Square released their IPs via the Collective platform. We talked about the IPs with the team and decided all together to work on a Fear Effect pitch, and the ideas popped immediately. After a creative period we decided that, out of respect for the fans, we needed to work with a part of the former team, so we contacted John and Matt, and they replied very quickly.

Concerning the Kickstarter campaign, it was both a difficult and exciting phase. Exciting because you’re starting to grow a community, and you see positive feedbacks on a project you’re working on since 6 month, and difficult because the rules were very clear, if the project was not funded, everything stopped immediately.

What inspired the story and the involvement of Inuit mythology? Besides Hong Kong and Greenland, which places will players visit?

On some aspect, we want to be very true to the two first games, on others things; we want to show that Sedna is another game, 15 years after the second one. Changing the mythology, while staying true to the fact that the Gods discreetly try to rule our lives, seems to be the perfect balance to us, and we’re still very happy with this choice.

I think that the world is Hana’s playground, and what was implicit in Fear Effect and Fear Effect Retro Helix will become obvious. Hana is going to travel to France, and uncover some secrets about her origins, Nuuk, the Greenland capital, and some more… supernatural places.

Can you tell readers a bit about why you opted for a tactical action game approach? What opportunities did this gameplay approach present in comparison to the series’ traditional third person perspective?

When we all replayed Fear Effect, we wrote some keywords on a big board, and “teamwork” was one of this words. And then we realized that the characters was never played all together in the 2 first games, and that’s perfectly normal, because of the 90s-typical gameplay, but as we knew we wanted to change the gameplay, we really wanted to go in that direction, so the tactical approach was one option and after several prototypes we decided to go in that direction.

"If you played the prototype, you saw that you can switch any time between all your controlled characters, that’s an important feature…"

I must say that we’re keeping most of the surprises and depth of our gameplay for the final version of the game. In the prototype we released, most of the features of the combat mode were not released; we’re still working on it very hard, especially on skills and team skills.

Besides, we want to work on the stress the player is feeling, the tactical view is obviously less stressful than the views in the first games, but we really want the player to feel uncomfortable, it’s going to be a major change in the final game compared to the prototype. So you see, we still have a lot to do!

How has the relationship between Rain and Hana evolved over the years? Will the game allow you to move between different characters in different scenarios (along with playing with all five characters at once)?

Rain and Hana live together in Hong-Kong, Hana is free from the triad, but couldn’t cut all her bounds with her past, that’s why she’s still accepting missions. Their relation is more official than it was in Fear Effect Retro Helix, they’re clearly a couple, but their relation is still the same, Hana overprotects Rain and Rain needs to be part of Hana’s life, including following her in her missions, and in Sedna she’ll have the last word, so she’s a very important in the 5 character cast.

If you played the prototype, you saw that you can switch any time between all your controlled characters, that’s an important feature, but to stay close to Fear Effect, you’ll not choose who you control, it’ll depend on the story, some part will focus on Hana and Rain, others on Decke and Glas, not to forget Axel, the new character in Sedna.

What kind of missions will players encounter in Fear Effect Sedna? In this post-Shadowrun/Wasteland 2/XCOM era, how difficult was it to create unique challenges and enemies for players?

We will have a lot of missions, each with different gameplays: infiltration, team gunfight and even investigation, but every mission will be driven by the story, the story is really important for us, and the core of the game. That’s why we’re very happy to work with John Zuur Platten; he’s forming an awesome team with Lucie, our writer.

The most difficult part with the game you mention is the comparison. We chose this gameplay, not to copy Shadowrun, but only because it seemed perfectly fit for the game and the story we want to tell. The fact is that as soon as the first screenshots popped, the game was compared to this huge success. It’s difficult, because we think that beside the similarities, it’s clearly not the same game, and we’d like the player to make their opinion with the first Fear Effect in mind rather than these games.

Can you tell us about the different skills that players can utilize in-game? Can players customize the characters to fill certain roles?

All I can say currently is that what you see in the prototype is not exactly what you’ll get in the game. Each character has his/her own strength and weakness and the skills will depend on these traits, amongst other things.

"We don’t have any idea about the release date yet, but we’re confident that it will be released before the end of 2017."

Given that the game will focus on the relationship between the characters in between gameplay as well as during cut scenes, is there a chance that the original voice cast will appear? If not, how do the new voice actors fit into their roles?

The original cast is not an option unfortunately, some actors don’t make voice acting anymore, others are too famous for an indie game budget, unfortunately, but we have plans about that. We’re looking for new actors with voices very close to the original, we’re not happy with every voices in the prototype, and even not with our process to record the voices, so it’s going to change for sure, we received some nice feedback about Hana’s voice, but others voices were less appreciated, it’s a point we’ll working on, for sure, voices are an important aspect of the Fear Effect games.

What can you tell us about Mission Mode at this point? What kinds of objectives, puzzles, random enemies, etc. can players expect?

We’re currently focused on the story mode, but the mission mode is an important feature we announced. The idea is to let the player free to use the character and the strategy he wants to reach the objective. It’s like a different game, in fact and will provide a longer, less story-driven experience for the players who liked the combat system in Sedna.

We didn’t finish the reflection about the missions but it may be objectives like “complete this map in less than 3 minutes”, or “complete this map using only close ranged weapons”, etc…

What is the current status of development? When can we expect the game to release at this point?

Thanks to the prototype release we’re very close from a fully functional core game, even if we have a lot of features to add, including fog of warm skills, etc…

Arts and assets for the 3 first levels are finished, so everything is running pretty smoothly. We don’t have any idea about the release date yet, but we’re confident that it will be released before the end of 2017.

"We played a lot of strategy games on console, and we found that Dragon’s Age has the best approach in porting a tactical gameplay on consoles, it inspired us a lot…"

Have you encountered any obstacles in translating the game’s tactical action approach to consoles?

Yes. Even more because we have PC and console players in the team… We played a lot of strategy games on console, and we found that Dragon’s Age has the best approach in porting a tactical gameplay on consoles, it inspired us a lot, but we changed the default control configuration many, many times. Now I’m pretty happy with the gameplay with a gamepad. For example, when she’s not testing something related to controls, Claire, our QA lead, is using a PS4 gamepad.

Is the game going to run at 1080p and 60fps on both PS4 and Xbox One?

Currently we’re only working on PC only, that’s why the prototype is not available on consoles. Once the development is closer to its end, we’ll start working on consoles port, but I’m very confident it’ll be the case!

Do you have any plans to support the PS4 Pro and Xbox Scorpio?

Not especially, the game is a 2.5D game with isometric view; it is not a very heavy game in term of processing. The only thing a little more heavy we’re working on are the particles and background animation, if you played the prototype you can see that we worked a lot on this aspect of the game, because it is part of Fear Effect.

So the game will work on Pro and Scorpio, but on “old” versions as well.

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

Thank you for your support, we really hope you liked the prototype; we are working hard on making the best game possible, you haven’t see anything yet.

Indie game studio Sushee have put up a new Kickstarter for Fear Effect Sedna, a revival of the classic games, which will use a tactical isometric camera, as well as real time combat, and replicate the experience of a party based RPG. If that sounds like something you would be interested in, you can hop on over here and donate- the Kickstarter has a goal of  €100,000.

Discussing the decision to stick with the isometric viewpoint, Sushee noted that it was out of a desire to do justice to the original games, and to allow for a party based dynamic during general gameplay, and storytelling.

“The original Fear Effect games focused on harrowing camera angles and the feeling of loneliness to create a nerve-racking atmosphere. But the story, the characters and their relationships are a huge part of what made the game such a classic. Fulfilling a mission together, they will interact a lot, and not only during cinematic cutscenes, but also while you play.

“The second point that made us choose tactical view and combat is that we wanted them not only to interact verbally, but also act together. We wanted to see Rain being proud of Hana actually change the way she fights. We wanted to see Deke’s thirst for blood change the way the others react. We wanted to show how Glas trying to hold a door, while the others get prepared for the incoming assault, makes them all nervous and confident at the same time.

“Considering all this, we opted for the isometric view, allowing to see every character any time; and the tactical approach, though in real time, allowing us to create situations and reactions to the protagonists’ behavior.”

So- fans of the original games, it looks like this new game will be something right up your alley. Stay tuned for more coverage.

Cult classic horror action title Fear Effect finally returns…as a tactical role playing game. Fear Effect Sedna is in development by Sushee with help from the Square Enix Collective program and will head to Kickstarter on April 12th for its funding. The funding goal will be €100,000.

Much like, say, Shadowrun Returns, Fear Effect Sedna will have an isometric perspective where characters take turns in combat and move around the map. You’ll have five characters to control – which means the original cast of Hana, Rain Qin, Royce Glas and Jacob ‘Deke’ DeCourt all return. The roles they’ll play haven’t been confirmed but you can count on the story continuing from Retro Helix.

If funded, Fear Effect Sedna will release in 2017. Whether you’re a fan or not of the PS1 action series, it’s good to see the return of Fear Effect. Let us know what you think of the new tactical RPG approach in the comments.