Games Booth

Wednesday 11 December 2013

Acclaimed author Christopher Brookmyre and Brighton-based developer RedBedlam unveil partnership for first true videogame / novel tie-in

From 80s platform games to modern day shooters: Bedlam set to hit Steam in 2014

UK developer RedBedlam has today unveiled details of Bedlam, an ambitious, original first-person shooter written in collaboration with the acclaimed Scottish novelist Christopher Brookmyre.

Developed in association with Standfast Interactive, the generation-spanning FPS takes players into a unique world of action and intrigue, visiting a range of genres old and new, from arcade platformer classics to modern RTS and shooter environments, all from a first person perspective and with a smattering of Brookmyre’s trademark dark humour.

Christopher Brookmyre has written 18 critically acclaimed novels and won numerous awards for his works, also appearing regularly on primetime radio and TV. His love of videogames has manifested in countless references and now, for the first time, in a fully-formed first person shooter that itself pays tribute to a wealth of iconic titles.

The videogame Bedlam mirrors the events from the book, which will be published in paperback on January 21^st 2014 (the hardback released in February 2013 to critical acclaim). The plot sees the player, a regular man with a regular job, subjected to a variety of tests only to wake in a videogame world in which he is not in fact the mythical hero so often seen in gaming, but a grunt designed purely to be cannon fodder for someone else. In attempting to find out how this has happened and what strange space he is in, the player progresses through a variety of familiar gaming worlds, relentlessly pursued by an enigmatic predator, an organisation known as Integrity that will be rid of him at all costs...

“Having always been a fan of Christopher’s novels, we’re hugely excited to be working with him on this unique project,” said Nick Witcher, Marketing Director at RedBedlam. “With such a talented mind behind the invention of the game world and writing the game itself, it’s going to be a tremendous title that surfaces in 2014.”

“A lot of my writing has been inspired by videogames and it has always been a big part of my life. When the guys at RedBedlam got in touch to see if I was interested in creating a game with them, I jumped at the chance and have since been consistently thrilled to see my own literary worlds visualised so accurately,” said Christopher Brookmyre. “Bedlam is a tribute to gaming in all its forms and the part it has played in all our lives – as well as being a top quality FPS adventure in itself. I look forward to seeing more of these fantastic characters and worlds fully realised and I think people are going to really enjoy what we’ve put together.”

Bedlam, the novel, is available on paperback from January 21^st in all good book stores. With the game set to appear on Steam in the summer of 2014 and with another two novel / game tie-ins planned, the partnership between RedBedlam and Brookmyre looks set to take the gaming world by storm, with a new direction in plot-driven game design.