Mindscape to ship, er, Ship News

Mindscape's announced plans to bring former Half-Life mod The Ship to PC owners as a full game this September.

The Ship runs on Valve's Source Engine - the same tech that powers Half-Life 2 - and takes place on a fleet of 1930s steam liners.

It doesn't sound like it's much to do with sailing though - apparently gameplay focuses around "the hunt", in which players are tasked with hunting down a fellow passenger on one of a number of ships and murdering them with whatever comes to hand.

Each ship will have a variety of hidden areas and tunnels, special weapons and environmental traps dotted around, and the game's playable from first or third-person perspectives.

It's not just about tracking your enemy though - Mindscape also says to expect a Sims-style daily needs system based on food, sleep and social interaction. It's all starting to sound a bit Agatha Christie, which is no bad thing.

Anyway, The Ship's currently being spruced up by Edinburgh-based Outerlight, and will eventually feature a single-player Arcade mode along with Hunt, Elimination, Deathmatch and Duel modes playable online.

Ahead of its September launch, it should be on display at this year's E3. Oddly though, there's no mention of whether it'll pitch up on Valve's Steam download service - you'd think the two were made for each other.