Hydrophobia Hands-On Preview

24 May 2010 at 15:34:41 by

When someone tells you they've had an idea for a game which revolves primarily around fluid mechanics, it might be hard to get excited. I mean, water has been in games forever, and most of the time water in-game is used for visual effect more than anything else. Despite more and more games adopting some sort of water mechanic, it rarely affects gameplay. So when I heard of Hydrophobia and saw the captured footage, I was intrigued, but still very doubtful.

Hydrophobia is the story of global catastrophe. Based in the very near future, the game assumes the UN's prediction that there will not be enough resources to support mankind at the current rate of population growth. This means the most valuable resource left, fresh water, has now become a commodity, and the world is torn apart fighting to survive. It's ultimately a global dilemma which affects everyone except the residents of the Queen of the World, a ship the size of a city - around 3km by 2km with multiple deck levels - which houses the world's elite. The Queen of the World is a floating paradise and can easily support its elite population, and this is where the story takes place.

Without veering into spoiler territory, you find yourself in control of Kate Wilson, the protagonist of the game and the ship's engineer. It's the 10th anniversary of the Queen of the World and Nanocell, one of the five founding fathers of the Queen of the World, is expected to make a huge announcement about its water purification technology. But the last 10 years have been a testing time for anyone who hasn't been living on the Queen of the World and, as you'd expect, different political factions have arisen: The Malthusians and the Cornucopians.

In short, the Malthusians believe there are too many people on the planet for the available resources, and that people should take it upon themselves to reduce their numbers in order to save mankind. The Cornucopians believe that with the advance of technology, man can make up for anything nature can't provide. It's the Cornucopians who are the founding fathers on the Queen of the World, but over the last 10 years the Malthusians have been slowly infiltrating the ship in order to strike on this particular anniversary.

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