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Sam Barlow, the creator of Her Story and Telling Lies, has teased a new game on Twitter. But figuring out what the experience is about may be a mystery game in itself.
On Wednesday, Barlow tweeted celebrating the five year anniversary of Her Story, as well as mentioning that fans could Wishlist his newest game on Steam right now. A trip to the game’s Steam page, however, reveals that just about everything about it is a mystery at the moment, including the title. At first, the game seems to be called Project A, with several letters after the A hidden from view. A click on its community page reveals that its title might be Project Ambrosio, but who knows if that’s a working title or what the game’s title will eventually be.
Today is the 5TH ANNIVERSARY of Her Story, the game that changed my life and healed the rift between video games & videogames.
— Sam Barlow (@mrsambarlow) June 24, 2020
To celebrate, we're teasing our next project and you can WISHLIST on @Steam right now! https://t.co/kZlgy1E4AP
The game’s Steam description reads, “██████████ new ███████ Sam Barlow ██ Half Mermaid █████████████ is ███████ ██████████ cinema ██ death.”
The rest of the details aren’t much more clear either. The Steam description for the game has huge sections hidden from view, as if they are confidential information. What we can see is that the game is developed by Sam Barlow, as well as “Half Mermaid.” There are also descriptions that note different time periods. The first paragraph is for 1968, with “Gothic” as the only un-obscured word; then 1971, with “NYC;” then 1999 with “pop star;” and 2022 with “Barlow,” “custodian,” and “concordance.” Altogether, it’s hard to get much of anything from these hints.
The Steam page also has a few screenshots and videos, but they aren’t much help either. There are short videos like a slithering snake, a fire that seems to be burning backwards, and a pair of legs sticking out of a pool of water. The screenshots are labeled with numbers, then a short description of the image with things like “#24 Mask,” and “#534 Gun.” These could be clues you’ll collect throughout the game, or they could be hints at what the game actually is, but there’s really no way to be sure.
Barlow’s last two games have been puzzle games that relied on unique mechanics to help players reveal complex stories. And while we may not know anything about Project A for sure, that’s probably a good starting point.
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