Indie Cop Game Unrecord Looks So Stunningly Realistic Its Gameplay Trailer Is Freaky
Foda C, a platinum-selling French rapper, has partnered up with an amateur Unreal Engine developer Alexandre Spindler (@esankiy on Twitter) to form Studio DRAMA. The new indie game studio is already hard at work on its first title, Unrecord. It's a tactical first-person shooter where you play as a police officer, but the game's perspective is uniquely presented in an immersive fashion with almost no HUD elements, just as if it were bodycam footage.
DRAMA is adamant that the gameplay is authentic, though. The developer released a post-reveal FAQ on the game's Steam store page that responds to some of the questions and comments that gamers have had since the reveal yesterday. In the FAQ, the developer states unequivocally that Unrecord is not a VR game, and it is fully-interactive, not a pre-rendered demo. It uses Unreal Engine 5, and appears to make use of the bleeding-edge graphics technology available in Epic's engine.
The developer also addresses the question of whether the game has a pro- or anti-police message in a succinct and distinctly-French way: "Art cannot fight against interpretation." The developers acknowledge that some people may feel disgusted or disturbed by the game's violence, but state that it will avoid topics like discrimination and racism while providing an unbiased take on "criminal acts and police violence."
In its press deck, DRAMA also answers some specific questions about the gameplay and story. The company compares the game to the narrative-driven Firewatch as well as tactical police shooter Ready or Not but emphasizes that it is an entirely single-player experience. Comparing the story to a detective novel or thriller, players will apparently traverse "complex dialogues" and "tough moral dilemmas" to investigate "several criminal cases."
As impressive as the trailer's visual are, gamers are likely most excited by the promise of the intensely-immersive gameplay. First-person games are naturally immersive, but intrusive HUD elements and various concessions made to improve gameplay can take away from this experience. At least at this early stage, Unrecord looks like it won't have any of that, which really makes it a shame that it isn't a VR title.
Unfortunately, DRAMA describes the game as in "pre-production" stages, and declines to give a release date or even an estimated release year. The company does say that it's open to bringing the game to consoles, depending on how development goes. Hopefully the crazy buzz around the impressive trailer attracts some high-powered funding for the French indie studio and Unrecord can become a showpiece title for Unreal Engine 5.
