Hydrophobia revealed

By Tom Bramwell Published 15 January, 2007

Snooker dev's next-gen opus.

World Snooker Championship developer Blade Interactive is working on a next-generation title called Hydrophobia.

Not much is known about the game, concept art for which appears to have been lurking inconspicuously on Blade's website since late last year, although the developer says it's been in development "for several years".

"Hydrophobia is a game like no other, utilising Blade's groundbreaking technology to deliver an experience which is set to redefine the boundaries of gaming," the description reads.

"We're not quite ready to raise the curtain fully on Hydrophobia just yet, but we promise you the wait will be more than worth it."

Concept art suggests a game where players find themselves up to their neck in trouble (and water, obviously), in environments that look like a bit like a cross between The Abyss and Alien.

Blade recently finished work on World Snooker Championship 2007, out on Xbox 360, PS2 and PSP - with a PS3 version also in development.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • space_ace #1 5 years ago

    another bioshock?!

  • Hunam #2 5 years ago

    Lol @ the name considering the recent wii news reports

  • kangarootoo #3 5 years ago

    Has a bit of a Poseidon Adventure look about it. No bad thing. Plenty of scope for progress based puzzles.

    Just keep away from sudden death sequences is my random advice (water is "great" for very annoying "work out what to do or drown and reload" type challenges).

  • rotj #4 5 years ago

    "another bioshock?!"

    I assuredly hope not. I'm interested, so long as it's not a shooter. Lost Planet has already suffered for the comparison to the likes of Gears of War and Rainbow Six Vegas, and with Halo 3 and Bioshock to come in 2007, the last thing we need is another upstart that comes up short. I'm seeing a waterworld-based adventure game in my mind's eye. And I'm intrigued!

    :)

    EDIT: Yeah, a Poseiden Adventure style water puzzle adventure game. Or something! I'd play it. If it's good....
    Edited by 1 at 15/01/07 @ 16:59

  • Xerx3s #5 5 years ago

    So, is the bioshock lead concept artist doing any side work by any chance? ;)

  • rhinoxious #6 5 years ago

    Mmm a game with plenty of water that acts with a bit more complexity than the usual rising levels deathtrap, or prescripted flowing in channels, would be good.

    I'd like to see some big ass waves crashing against stuff with lots of physics and particle effects. Still seems to be the one thing missing from 3D games assortment of nature 'effects'.

  • T4RG4 #7 5 years ago

    Isnt Blade a badly managed company though? It'll be turd (probably).

  • haowan #8 5 years ago

    They should call it Deadlight. That's right

  • Badgerous_Fiend #9 5 years ago

    Yeah I took a look at this too and I'd agree it looks intriguing. Looks like blade have added a few new images to that concept art page too. Can't find anything else about it tho >:@

  • Krusty #10 5 years ago

    "...utilising Blade's groundbreaking technology..."

    Hmm, did anyone else read the snooker review?

  • kangarootoo #11 5 years ago

    @haowan

    Exactly what I thought ;)

    Do we know anyone at Blade?

  • Badgerous_Fiend #12 5 years ago

    Deadlight was the next game after Stolen right? I remember that being unfortunately awful. Terrible reviews and the like. But when I played it, there were definately some good ideas, just poor execution.

    I can certainly see the correlations between the two concepts but I'm gonna reserve judgement until I start seeing screenies etc.

    I wonder where the guys from Blue 52 ended up :o

  • Waldo #13 5 years ago

    I wonder if this is that game called "W.A.T.E.R." that was announced years back and then nothing more was heard about it?

  • NeedMoreSocks81 #14 5 years ago

    Certainly looks interesting - especially since every other next-gen game anounced seems to be generic army/war/racing bollucks, this at least looks like it has the potential to be different. Time will tell I guess... think I'll keep my eye on it

  • SBfistfun #15 5 years ago

    "utilising Blade's groundbreaking technology"

    The Blade shit game engine?

  • Murbal #16 5 years ago

    I thought hydrophobia was linked to rabies somehow?

  • Badgerous_Fiend #17 5 years ago

    Well yep, hydrophobia is usually associated with the later stages of rabies (thanks Wikipedia! :p ) whereas aquaphobia is a more fitting term. However, I think most people associate hydrophobia with a fear of water (and it sounds way better than aquaphobia).

  • BadBoyBonner #18 5 years ago

    This looks like a remake of Hydrofool off the Spectrum & Amstrad lol

  • Lucozade #19 5 years ago

    Obviously from the shots they've shown us its too early to say if it'll be any good or not - but it definatly has me intreagued. These days too many games give bored players more of the same old thing - some kind of water puzzle action adventure thing could be cool - certainly better then another game about fighting aliens etc.

  • Badgerous_Fiend #20 5 years ago

    Plot! I need storylines and plot!

    No more "The planet has been taken over by (enter irrelevant word here) aliens! You must grab your trusty plasma rifle and...." *yawn*

  • Lucozade #21 5 years ago

    Damn right Badger!

    Games could be the next big format, like film, or T.V, but in order to reach that point they need to provide indepth storylines told through interactions - I mean story lines that are actually interesting here, with cool characters and intersting locations! Think Zelda! (And like you say badger boy, lashings and lashings of real horror show ultraviolance)
    Edited by 1 at 16/01/07 @ 17:27

  • NeedMoreSocks81 #22 5 years ago

    Just checked this out again and it looks like there's a few new concept images - the latest seems to be a soldier model of some kind, looks pretty damn mean. Looking forward to some kind of official explanation of what it's all about, it looks like it has the potential to be sweet.

  • SuperBas #23 5 years ago

    Looks like a survival horror game.

    http://ww w.bladeinteractive.com/images/h...