Embrace the ranger fantasy in this bow hunting FPS where the creatures hunt you back

pcgamer.com:

Bethesda veteran and indie developer Nate Purkeypile recently released an updated 2022 trailer for his experimental fantasy hunting sim, The Axis Unseen(opens in new tab). The latest trailer, as well as Purkeypile's dev logs on YouTube, paint an exciting picture of a sort of stealth-shooter that embraces some classic immersive sim inspirations.

Purkeypile is developing The Axis Unseen on Unreal Engine 5, and while the tech's gotten plenty of attention for the high-fidelity graphics it can support, this is the first time I've been really wowed by the art direction on a UE5 project. Purkeypile's stark metal album environments really benefit from the «UE5 look» of the lighting, that kind of dreamy effect like a too-bright early afternoon.

The striking, as-of-yet unexplained ruins of his scenes really grab my attention as well. In particular, the shot of a triangular sculpture with reptilian hands grasping at a humanoid figure at the top of a staircase to nowhere reminds me of the work of French comic artist Moebius(opens in new tab). These environments are just weird, and I want to explore them.

That enticing fantasy world promises to support some unique gameplay(opens in new tab) as well. I almost read Axis Unseen's bowhunting gameplay as a riff on the fan-favorite stealth archer build from Skyrim, a game Purkeypile worked on as a world artist. Your character moves slowly and can't take too many hits from the game's otherworldly fauna (think the Ancestor Spirit from Elden Ring). Arrows seem to be in short supply as well, so sneaking about is the order of the day.

The game's quarry can detect you via sight, sound, and even smell, with the range of that last one dependent on wind direction. Similar to Looking Glass Studios'