The Rising climbing ever nearer to completion

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Animal-themed, exploration-based narrative adventure coming soon from the creators of Mutropolis

Often animal adventures are cute and cuddly games with a playful sense of humour and charmingly whimsical gameplay. The Rising, the upcoming new canine-themed title from the creators of Mutropolis, is not going to be one of those games. 

The dogs themselves will appear to be endearing enough, only here they are decidedly not man's best friend. That's because each dog's brain has been "neuronally hacked" for a direct line of communication with a "Giant Worm that controls the city." Your job, in assuming control of six different "hybrid" dogs over the course of the game, is to "spy on suspicious humans living in the city" and report back what you find. To succeed you will need to "hunt, track trails," and then scan any documents and recordings you uncover. It won't be easy, however, as the humans – some of them, anyway – will react violently to your efforts at espionage. 

At first glance, other than featuring four-legged protagonists, The Rising looks much like Pirita Studio's delightful debut adventure, with its stylish hand-painted graphics and slightful offbeat designs. Here, however, everything's just a bit more off, revealing a much darker, more sinister undertone as you progress. Carrying out your assigned mission to "snitch on humans" will involve exploring the entire city and eavesdropping on conversations to discover hidden hideouts, but it's equally important to discern not just where things happen but when, as day will turn to night and back dynamically, and "events in the Ziggurat city are tied to specific time slots." But beware those who don't take kindly to prying eyes, as survival will depend on your natural abilities to "smell, follow trails, hunt, eat, sleep, bury and dig."

There is no target release date for The Rising so far, but the game is listed as "coming soon" on Steam and is already available for wishlisting for Windows, Mac and Linux.