First They details emerge

By Robert Purchese Published 3 September, 2007

Not so mysterious now.

IMC has finally shed some light on mysterious shooter They, unveiling Metropolis Software as the developer.

It takes part in the near future, after a devastating attack on England leaves nasty robots in control. You and a pilot from your army squadron managed to survive the initial onslaught, and will soon find out that not all is as it seems - the robots aren't thinking for themselves. It appears invisible aliens are doing it all for them, you see, although it will be a while before you'll actually be able to see and attack them.

Key to your adventure will be your gun, which you'll upgrade along the way. Hundreds of items can be swapped in and out of four slots, and you'll be able to adjust and save your weapon settings to the number keys on your keyboard. So, you might like a burst-style attack on key one, or an explosive assault on key two - apparently the possibilities are endless.

You'll even get the chance to change the skin on your gun, decorating it with various pictures of skulls, or sensible camouflage.

They is being powered by its very own engine, and boasts all the usual trimmings like DirectX 10 support and clever enemies that probably know their seven times-table.

Multiplayer will tout the familiar faces of capture the flag, deathmatch, and so on, as well as an entirely new mode based around the customisable gun.

They is in development for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. A release date is yet to be announced.

Pop over to Eurogamer TV for the very first trailer, or into our They gamepage for the first shots.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (23) Latest comment 5 years ago

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  • SniperWolf #1 5 years ago

    Worst name for a game ever after Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.

  • FunkyRenegade #2 5 years ago

    Cue generic Sci-Fi FPS #15439075

  • consignia #3 5 years ago

    sciFiFPSforXbox360andPC++;

  • Fabiaan #4 5 years ago

    I think the name “THEY“ has been choosen well! If you look at the trailer, it is really cool how they play with the name - and would you say PREY is a better name?

    I am a huge multiplayerfan and I wonder how this painting will be like, as I ever dreamed of fighting with the same skin weapon like my clan members, so I am much looking forward for they. Could you see the game of your own guys and write a preview when u get hands on?

    Thx

    Fabiaan

  • Bumhug360 #5 5 years ago

    It needs some sort of magnet gun, that not only disables the robots (or turns them into folk singers) but can also be used to throw them around a bit. Give me that devs and I will give you £30, well ok will give some random shop £30 but you get a few pence from it

  • brooza #6 5 years ago

    They is billed as a first-person shooter with a mysterious edge and the ability to make sentences written about it look stupid

    I love that line
    Edited by brooza at 03/09/07 @ 16:34

  • ruckus #7 5 years ago

    Saw this on the tv, some robot with a stupid 'orangey queen alien head' on top of it - looked crap.

  • The_Benny #8 5 years ago

    Fabiaan's gushing praise for the game as his first ever comment, coupled with They being the only game in his Most Wanted list, set off all kinds of theories in my head about his connection to the game...

  • BigE0n #9 5 years ago

    Well Yes hmmm
    Whats the point of the voice over guy when hes just reading the text we CAN ALL READ in the vid.....

    Also is it me or do the aliens bare a striking resemblence to the ghosty alien things in the Final Fantasy Movie the spirits with in????

    Bumhug360 + 10 for the canny use of a Futuramma Reference :-)

  • Razzajazz #10 5 years ago

    Fabiaan, please try harder next time, ok....?

  • Barkotron #11 5 years ago

    Agreed, They is a pretty nasty name - it just sounds wrong. By the sounds of the voiceover I'm guessing this was chosen by someone who's not a native English speaker and might not be aware of how crap it sounds. Oh well.

    Looks totally derivative as well I'm afraid. It looks like someone's played Gears of War, then that PS3 Resistance thing, then watched the Final Fantasy film (as mentioned) and thought "cool, we can make a game just like that".

    Meh. If the combat itself is reasonably well handled it might be worth a budget impulse buy, but so far it has failed to excite.

  • Martin #12 5 years ago

    Has a lot of potential but it's way to early to tell now.

  • Razz #13 5 years ago

    2 users want this game!

    LOL

  • Fitzmogwai #14 5 years ago

    I want a DX10 version of Them! Fighting giant radioactive ants in the desert with nothing more than a rusty revolver.

  • rhinoxious #15 5 years ago

    Big robots and spectral aliens.

    Well at least They won't upset the german censors.

  • Freek #16 5 years ago

    Okay, so you're a german developer, sure. But is it really that hard to get a random English or American actor to do your voice over?
    Just to make sure the whole thing doesn't sound ridiculous?

  • Zanuah #17 5 years ago

    Meh...

  • Bru-Man #18 5 years ago

    Is it just me or is anyone else getting tired of crap sci-fi plots hacked into games?
    "invisible aliens" - I almost wept when I read that...

  • Kiigan #19 5 years ago

    The name is complete shit - that goes without saying.

    The trailer itself does very little to set the game apart from dozens of others. It's just a bad teaser... It doesn't leave me curious about who "they" are or why "they" are here or why the hell I should care about any of it.

    Must try harder. Fabiaan's post doesn't help either.

  • Machetazo #20 5 years ago

    No wonder its stated to be out in 2009. That looks half-baked, more a proof of concept than anything else, judging from the trailer.

  • barnettbeans #21 5 years ago

    poor looks, poor voice acting, no imagination in level design/character design. At first i thought the enemies where going to jump out at you or appear as ghostly things nexts to you. Sniper wolf as a point about the name. Apat from that this looks Bitching!

  • Mashum #22 5 years ago

    ...it seems like every other game has aliens or daemon spawn devastating England, are they trying to tell us something?

  • Edwannawonga #23 5 years ago

    Just checked out some new developer vids on Gametrailers. Looking forward to this game and quite impressive amount of work done in 4 months, unless any of you guys are in the business and can tell me otherwise :)

    Customisable gun looks well sweet.