While at E3 I stopped in to speak with Schanz Games and find out more about their upcoming titles. Shadow of Aten is an upcoming game from Silicon Garage Arts that will take you back to the early 20th century for an Indiana Jones style adventure. Ride on camels, fight the Nazis, stroll through 1930s Cairo and save the world in the process.You play Alan, the hero of the game who gets involved in the story when his friend is killed. You soon discover that there is ancient Egyptian treasure at stake and you must prevent the German ambassador from capturing the treasure and using it to take over the world.
Set in Egypt in 1936, Shadow of Aten captures the tension of pre-World War II Europe. England and Egypt had just signed a treaty, Italy is preparing to invade northern Africa, and Germany is gearing up to roll across Europe. The story is told in 8 chapters, each representing a different location, such as Cairo. There will be 17 main missions as well as about a dozen side missions.
The game will be filled with plenty of opportunities to learn about history and even about religion. Did you know that the Egyptians invented monotheism? I didn’t, at least not until the folks at Schanz filled me in during our discussion.
Shadow of Aten is based on the Half Life 2 engine and will allow complete freedom of movement in the environment. The game will feature both 1st and 3rd person adventures. Some items from the environment can be used in the course of the game. Also, the game soundtrack is a major plus. The music was performed by a Spanish orchestra and has a cinematic feel to it. The music will add to the Indiana Jones ambiance of a 1930s adventure, as you ride in cars and on camels through the desert.
While Shadow of Aten isn’t planned for release until 2008, I was very impressed with the unique story and the great new ideas that the developers are bringing to the old standby adventure game. The historical setting is cool, and the graphics looked really good in the trailer that I got to see. I can’t wait to ride on one of those camels!
Even so, I'm really a casual gamer. I enjoy sim games because I get to build or make things, and on MMORPGs I usually have 10 or more characters going at one time so that I can experiment with every possible combination. I like thinking while I'm gaming, which explains my enduring love for text adventures, and my refusal to ever play an FPS.
