Sam Barlow's Precognition lies ahead in our future

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Sci-fi horror collaboration with Brandon Cronenberg unveiled by the creator of Her Story for spring 2028

Getting straight answers out of Sam Barlow about his upcoming games is like prying the truth from Hannah Smith, the secretive star of Barlow's breakout FMV mystery, Her Story. Naturally, Barlow has been very cryptic about his latest game, the nebulously titled "Project C." Until today, that is, as we now know a bit more about the officially rebranded game to be known as Precognition. 

This time around, players assume the role of a woman named Diana, who gains the ability to see her own future after an "experimental implant is embedded into her brain." Players will be tasked with exploring decades of visions, focusing on "specific moments and committing them to Diana’s memory in the present day." Then it's up to you what to do with them, as you can "use her precognition to navigate kaleidoscopic possibilities and change the world for the better... or for the worse." You must decide carefully, though, as "prescience comes with consequences ... and as soon as Diana commits a detail to memory, the very future ahead of her changes," with all the expected AND unexpected repercussions that entails.

While even now, little of Precognition has been revealed beyond some psychedelic teaser images and a trailer that more closely resembles a Rorschach test than a video game preview, what we do know is that it promises to be a "new kind of live-action sci-fi horror game" that tells "one of the most sprawling and ambitious time travel stories yet created." As with Barlow's previous games, including Immortality, Telling Lies, and of course Her Story, this one will combine "cinematic FMV sequences with non-linear storytelling and a focus on player freedom and agency." The goal, according to Barlow, is to bring "the feel of investigation and mystery games into a world of cause-and-effect, with a story that spins out as a consequence of your choices."

The horror element seems sure to be emphasized, however, as the game will be a collaboration between Barlow's company Half Mermaid and acclaimed film director Brandon Cronenberg, son of David Croneberg. (Barlow himself is no stranger to the genre, having previously been the lead designer and writer of Silent Hill: Origins and Shattered Memories.) Rather than fighting or fleeing scary monsters in a desperate struggle for survival, Cronenberg says that the terror here will be "subjective and experiential, with the horror emerging as one person’s perspective of the world warps around them." 

The launch of Precognition remains a bit of a mystery, but it isn't imminent as the game isn't due to arrive until sometime in the second quarter of 2028 for Windows PC on Steam, along with console versions for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2. Which gives us plenty of time to start figuring out what Project D is all about!