INSOMNIA: The Ark (previously InSomnia) has a new teaser trailer, a Steam page is now up and the developer is still aiming for a simultaneous release for Linux—sometime this year. They've also said they're in talks with GOG as well.
You might not remember it, since we've not written about it since 2015. I had forgotten about it too, but a handy Twitter tip came in with the new information. So, what is it exactly? INSOMNIA: The Ark is a complex story-driven RPG set on board a colossal space metropolis brimming with the secrets of a long-gone civilization. It's being developed by Studio MONO and they just announced their teaming up with publisher HeroCraft.
This isn't another RPG with turn-based combat either, it's real time combat with both ranged and close-combat options, along with destroyable cover. It looks like the exact type of RPG Linux has been missing!
Take a look at the new teaser:
Direct Link
In regards to the Linux release that was previously confirmed, they do sound committed to doing it, here's what they said on Steam in reply to a question about Mac and Linux:
We will do our best to make them available simultaneously.
It's built with Unreal Engine which has Linux support, although it can be a bit iffy on older versions so hopefully they won't have too many issues. My other concern is how good the translation will be, since it's going from Russian to English…so many things get lost in the translations, let's hope they do it justice.
It was actually supposed to release in February, but it seems they took extra time to polish it. They're not currently giving an exact date now.
Hey people! Thanks for covering the news here. Will be happy to answer your questions :).
Well, so I'll dare... How would you compare your game to (modern) Fallout? (Of course I'm aware you've got like a hundredth of their budget.)
That's an interesting question. First of all we never wanted to do "Russian Fallout" if it makes sense, and the game doesn't look like one. There are few Fallout related easter eggs but you can easily miss them if you don't know where to look. We have tons of text content and the dialogues really look like dialogues with meaningful lines you can pick as your questions and answers. Basically it feels more like classic Fallouts than the recent ones.
I loved the old Fallouts, but I certainly hope people will look for and find your very own game instead of just compairing it with others!
PS. here's a piece of OST we pushed online recently:
View video on youtube.com
Last edited by INSOMNIA_The_Ark on 5 April 2018 at 8:34 am UTC
It's hard not to be compared with things, but that's ok :).
PS. here's a piece of OST we pushed online recently:
View video on youtube.com
Wow, that definitely adds an unexpected atmosphere! I like it, although I never seem to get a grip of jazz. There is jazz that comes as dance music, which I really find boring. Then there is jazz, that wildly goes beyond my comprehension, but jazz elements in progressive rock epics are amongst the greatest moments in music I know of..
Of course music might work differently in a computer game anyway, with the players concentration mostly on the game at first... So I'm really looking forward to see and hear more of Insomnia!
Last edited by Nevertheless on 9 April 2018 at 6:56 am UTC
Just to make things clear, the main soundtrack for the game is still more ambient and something you could expect to hear from Mark Morgan. The video demonstrates music bits you will hear from radios scattered all around the station, which adds that extra cool feeling and vibe to the world.It's hard not to be compared with things, but that's ok :).
PS. here's a piece of OST we pushed online recently:
View video on youtube.com
Wow, that definitely adds an unexpected atmosphere! I like it, although I never seem to get a grip of jazz. There is jazz that comes as dance music, which I really find boring. Then there is jazz, that wildly goes beyond my comprehension, but jazz elements in progressive rock epics are amongst the greatest moments in music I know of..
Of course music might work differently in a computer game anyway, with the players concentration mostly on the game at first... So I'm really looking forward to see and hear more of Insomnia!
@Liam: I could ask more, like how the Linux port is going, what sales they are hoping for on Linux, ... - but doesn't this interest of the developer call for a little interview article?It is known that the whole percentage of Linux users on Steam is relatively low, but who knows, if everyone who uses Linux will buy our game, we might end up with a good bonus :D
Last edited by INSOMNIA_The_Ark on 9 April 2018 at 11:44 am UTC
Will there be voiceovers or just text? Are you going to hire a professional English translator for the text and/or subtitles?We planned to voiceover main characters. Anyway we still have radio transmissions, loudspeakers etc that will be certainly voiced. Russian to English text translation is being handled by American team that did Warhammer 40000: Space Wolf localisation for HeroCraft.
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