Countdown is on until Chaosmonger's Three Minutes to Eight

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Side-scrolling sci-fi pixel art adventure from the creator of Encodya coming to PC, consoles and mobile devices

If you knew the precise moment of your own death, what would you do if given repeated attempts to prevent it? What could you do to stop it, if circumstances kept changing each time you tried? This is no mere hypothethetical question, but rather the very deadly reality players will face in Three Minutes to Eight, the upcoming new psychological sci-fi adventure from the creator of Encodya.

The game's protagonist knows he's going to die at precisely 7:57 p.m., but players have the opportunity to "unravel what lies beneath, uncover secret paths, find ways to cheat death, and unlock multiple endings." Easier said than done, however, as you exist in "a borderline state of mind that teeters on the edge of consciousness, where everything is possible yet remains elusive." Each time you revive, randomized elements will change and "unique events" occur, so survival is not merely a matter of attrition. Instead you'll need to pay careful attention and "revisit the game multiple times to discover all its hidden mysteries."

Described as "Memento meets Groundhog Day," Three Minutes to Eight is a very different sort of experience than Chaosmonger Studio's previous game. While it similarly takes place in a near-future cyberpunk world of robots and humans interacting, gone are the slick hand-drawn graphics and traditional point-and-click gameplay of Encodya, replaced here by a gritty side-scrolling pixel art presentation and "short-burst gameplay [that] allows for infinite replayability." Throughout a "mind-boggling narrative with unexpected twists," you'll find yourself conversing with a variety of different characters as you seek to save your own life and maintain your loose grip on sanity in the process.

No target release date has been announced yet, but Three Minutes to Eight will be published by Assemble Entertainment and is due out sometime before the end of this year on Steam for Windows PC, along with mobile versions and console releases for PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch.