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Nocturne
Terminal
Reality/Gathering of Developers
Projected Release Date: October 31, 1999
What better choice for the "Dark Horse" winner than what was undoubtedly the darkest, most exciting game at the E3? What is Nocturne? It is a dollop of Kolchak the Night Stalker, a smidgen of The X-Files and a sprinkling of The Untouchables. Set in the 1930s, you play as the Stranger, a member of a clandestine government organization that investigates strange occurrences and supernatural phenomena. It is a game steeped in classic horror and pulp fiction as werewolves, zombies and vampires attempt to possess your soul.
Two weeks after viewing an exclusive demo of Nocturne, the vivid images are as fresh in my mind as the classic Universal horror films of my childhood. Mark Randel--the founder of Terminal Reality and the progenitor of Nocturne--has obviously made this third-person action/adventure his life's work as evidenced by the attention to minutia in the graphics. Real-time volumetric lighting and the use of real fog heighten the atmosphere to almost unbearable levels of anticipation. Watching your flashlight cut a path through the darkness, never knowing what unspeakable horror it may settle on--this is bone-chilling horror that defies you to play alone--with the lights out and the headphones on in the middle of the night.
Nocturne is divided into five different episodes that are unrelated, and care has been taken to ensure that the adventure aspects are much more than the Tomb Raider/pull-a-lever garden-variety puzzle. It does not do anything different, it does not do anything we have not seen before; it just does everything exceptionally well.
What do you think won for Most Original Adventure Game? You might just be surprised . . .
