SyncBuildRun plans on releasing a new episode of the game each and every week, which means V.Next will play more like an interactive television series than any game yet released.
In the cyberpunk future of Seattle 2035, players take on the role of Vivienne Denue, a smart, tech-savvy female hacker. Players use multiple game modes to modify circuits, craft software, and hack the environment while helping Vivienne take revenge on corrupt corporations who are responsible for stealing her memories.
Everything new is old again in V.Next, from its deliberate low-rez graphics, a homage to its 80s and 90s cyberpunk sensibility found in novels like Neuromancer and Snow Crash, and its timely themes of privacy, surveillance, and especially diversity.
SyncBuildRun has launched a kickstarter campaign looking for $120,000 to help them realize V.Next as an engaging, playable game that appeals to a wide variety of gamers seeking new and different gaming experiences.
In addition to Kickstarter, V.Next is currently undergoing voting on the Steam Greenlight platform.
SyncBuildRun founder and CEO Paul Furio said, "Our first priority is creating great episodic entertainment. We also want to embrace a progressive and inclusive attitude, and tell stories that feature diverse leading characters who are often overlooked by popular media."
After its initial launch V.Next will receive eighteen episodes slotted to release weekly after the launch of the pilot episode.
We know that stories that are told over time take full advantage of the power of anticipation. We're delivering an episode every week for nearly 20 weeks, just like a full season of a television show. Each episode should feature 30-60 minutes of story and gameplay, and episodes are playable over and over so that you can try different approaches and experience different stories.
Yes, this is an amazing challenge, but we've seen what happens when fans of a project get a frequent, regular dose of real entertainment. We're not delivering cookie-cutter DLC (Downloadable Content) or weak power-ups. This is the real deal: A new plot, a new setting, new characters, a multi-episode story arc. We have real writers who have written for games, television, and film, and we're committed to delivering nearly half a year of ongoing entertainment to our players.
V.Next features four major game modes:
- World Mode - Explore Seattle, infiltrate corporate HQs, evade security forces, and collaborate with allies in this side-scrolling platform experience.
- Circuit Mode - Build or modify hardware with chips and components obtained on missions or via the black market. Use your new creations to spy on the unsuspecting, crack passwords, or overload circuitry and bring down an entire datacenter.
- Code Hacking Mode - Craft thousands of programs from dozens of subroutines, each with their own unique characteristics (like Parallel Processing for multiple simultaneous attacks, Loop for a damage multiplier, or Null to wipe out system memory). Then use these programs to hack into servers and gain access to forbidden files, or maybe just add a few zeroes to your Bitcoin wallet.
- Vehicle Mode - Zip around Seattle on your café racer motorcycle, but watch out for those drones! They'll steal your data and cost you valuable resale credits at the local hacker's dive bar. Multiple different vehicle types will be available depending on the episode setting.
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