Consider this a vision of the future on a couple levels. Firstly, because the HK Project takes players to a cyberpunk Hong Kong where robots casually loiter in neon-lit corners, and wireless tech allows street cats to be guided by remote control. And secondly, because this is an extra early look at a game that’s still a few years away from being available for any console or PC. HK Project is the brainchild of the French developing duo, Koola & Viv, and these glimpses of gameplay are from their work blog. If the game’s still taking kitty steps, we can only imagine how stunning the graphics in the finished build will be. There’s already some potent visual catnip here.
This first streaming clip follows the lead feline during a stealthy traversal of all the shimmering pipes and slippery ledges lining a rain-soaked back alley.
This clip then strips all the graphical gilding away and focuses on how versatile the cat’s animated maneuvers are when hopping, crawling, and sliding on uneven urban terrain.
Rummaging through messy piles of trash will be a big part of gameplay, too. And it fits–that’s what strays do, after all. Koola & Viv are so dedicated to translating this aspect of the cat experience, they’ve recorded a thorough demo-ing the physics engine that’ll be behind it. Never has spewing garbage looked more… hypnotic?
From Echo the Dolphin to Sonic the Hedgehog, animals have proven to be striking video game stars, time and again. It’s been a long while since Bubsy the Bobcat, though, and outside of that never-released Socks the Cat game, kitties have still been pretty under-represented in the gaming landscape. Whenever it arrives, HK Project will definitely be slinking into an empty space and staking out its domain.
Will you follow HK Project until completion? Any other cat-based games deserve our attention here? Scratch your feelings into the talkback below.
Featured Image Credit: Koola & Viv