NCSoft announces Project M, a hyper-realistic Unreal Engine 5 game

polygon.com:

South Korean studio NCSoft announced a trailer for its “new interactive movie game,” called Project M, on Tuesday. Project M was created using Unreal Engine 5 and is expected out on consoles in 2023, the studio announced via news release. No specific consoles were mentioned.

The hyper-realistic trailer does, indeed, look like a movie — there’s near photorealistic graphics on display alongside what NCSoft describes as “cinematic production.” The trailer features a story that’s centered around a husband — potentially — getting revenge on his wife’s murderer.

It looks dark, a little scary, and full of action. Player choices seem to be important throughout, with button inputs popping up throughout gameplay and impacting the story. NCSoft confirmed in the news release that “player choice and control can influence the story and the ending of the game.” That seems to be for everything from decisions, dialogue, and precision-based actions. Throughout the trailer, NCSoft interspersed the gameplay footage with some behind-the-scenes development, including 3D scanning and motion capture.

NCSoft principal development management officer said Project M is part of a larger initiative to share transparency into development. More development progress footage is expected in the form of “trailer videos, interviews, novels, and webtoons.”

NCSoft is a developer and published headquartered in South Korea. Founded in 1997, the studio is best known for publishing the MMORPG Guild Wars and Harmonix’s Fuser, as well as developing the MMORPG Lineage.