The Poisoned Pawn

The Poisoned Pawn is an upcoming video game, which is the seventh video game in the Tex Murphy series of detective adventure games, developed by Chaotic Fusion. In the same style as the rest of the titles in the series, it tells much of its story through live-action full-motion video sequences, coupled with fully explorable 3D first-person environments during gameplay.

The Poisoned Pawn
Developer(s)Chaotic Fusion
Publisher(s)Big Finish Games
Designer(s)Chaotic Fusion
Writer(s)Aaron Conners
SeriesTex Murphy
EngineUnity
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, OS X
Genre(s)Point-and-click adventure, Interactive movie
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

The Poisoned Pawn's gameplay is very similar to that of Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure, where the player assumes the role of Tex Murphy, exploring rich 3D environments from a first-person perspective, hunting for clues and solving various environmental puzzles. In addition to the 3D exploration, the game features full motion video cutscenes and video sequences to advance the story and characters.

Plot

In this cyberpunk, film noir, dystopian sci-fi adventure, the player controls Tex Murphy, a typical 1940's gumshoe detective. Except, it's the 2050s. A post-apocalyptic world has risen from the ashes of World War III and stands divided. New San Francisco sits atop the rubble of the old city. It's a city of glitz and glamour hiding a sinister undertone: a population segregated between those immune to the nuclear fallout (Norms) and those less fortunate (Mutants). Just outside the new city lies Old San Francisco, a vastly ignored reminder of a dark past, and home to the mutant population, and Tex himself.

In this latest adventure, the year is 2050. Shortly after the events of Tesla Effect, Tex Murphy (Chris Jones), with the guidance of St. Germaine (Jason Tatom), must revisit some of his most gripping cases in order to decipher his true past, and prepare him for an uncertain future.[1]

Development

Background

The game originally began as a fan-made remake of the 5th title in the Tex Murphy series Tex Murphy: Overseer, and its development was sanctioned by Big Finish Games in early 2015. However, due to increased traction in the game's development, as well as significant technological advancements, the project evolved into an official canon continuation of the Tex Murphy series.[2] The development team was streamlined and partnered with the series' owner (Big Finish Games).[3] Aaron Conners (series writer) has come on board, writing all-new content for the game that continues directly after the events of Tesla Effect, and taking place in the year 2050. While the foundation of the games' story is still centered around the Overseer plot, Tex (with the assistance of St. Germaine) revisits various parts of all of his prior cases. The Poisoned Pawn refers to the original title that was given to Overseer, before a name change was decided internally prior to its 1998 release.

Design

The development team for The Poisoned Pawn (under the name Chaotic Fusion) is made up of only four people. The game is developed using the Unity engine, with updated graphics from its predecessor Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure.[4]

In addition to updates to the real-time 3D engine, the developers have announced the game would feature 4K resolution full motion video sequences, and full Oculus Rift support. While no official announcements about other VR platforms have been made yet (like the HTC Vive), the developers are confident that it could make it to those platforms provided there is sufficient time and access to those development kits.[5]

On May 29, 2019, the development team revealed the poster design and tagline ("Someone's been playing you from the beginning...") for the game via social media.[6] The design shows images of Tex Murphy from most of the series' previous titles facing off against each titles' primary adversary.

Platforms and release date

The development team originally estimated late 2019 for the release of the title. In addition to the desktop release, The Poisoned Pawn marks the first solid attempt to bring Tex Murphy to the latest generation consoles and virtual reality.[5] The game failed to make that timeframe, with a new release date to be determined.

References
  1. Chaotic Fusion. "The Poisoned Pawn Website". ThePoisonedPawn.com. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  2. Adventure Gamers (2017-05-08). "Poisoned Pawn makes move to original Tex Murphy adventure". Adventure Gamers. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  3. Big Finish Games. "Chris and Aaron Update - The Poisoned Pawn". YouTube. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  4. Chaotic Fusion. "The Poisoned Pawn - July 2017 Update Trailer (4K)". YouTube. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  5. MAGFest (2018-01-19). "MAGFest 2018: The Poisoned Pawn @ MIVS". YouTube. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  6. Twitter (ChaoticFusionTM) (2019-05-29). "The Poisoned Pawn - May 29, 2019 Twitter Post". Twitter. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
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