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Shadowrun and Battletech creators unveil cyberpunk horror RPG set on a “dying space station” where upgrades change your personality"You are the ship of Theseus" in Harebrained’s new game Graft
“You are the ship of Theseus” in Harebrained’s new game Graft
Image credit:Harebrained Schemes
Image credit:Harebrained Schemes
Revealed just today, Harebrained Schemes' Graft isn’t just “cyberpunk”, it’s “post-cyberpunk”. Strictly speaking, “post-cyberpunk” probably means the noughties, when the neon promise of cyborgs and endless digital networking finally gave way to the dour mundanity of everybody having a smartphone, a Facebook account and a case of low-key perma-anxiety, but I’ll allow it, because I do love me a doomed space station. Here’s the trailer.
Some blurb: “the Arc is dying. You must escape. Once, it hung in the sky like a jeweled moon - a continent-sized station filled with biomechanically enhanced citizens, all working toward some greater purpose lost to time. Bodies were replaceable, resurrection assumed.
“With each Graft, strange cravings and half-glimpsed memories flood your system,“the Steam page explains. “Now you remember the hot breath of a lover you never touched. Now you find yourself suddenly obsessing over cruel and sadistic impulses. Now you remember the monotony of an endless solitary confinement. You must choose what each of these fragments means to you, and you must live with the consequences of each choice.”
In summary, “you are the Ship of Theseus. Who, or what, will you be when you escape?” Choice of nanoware dictating whether you character ends the game a serial killer or a philanthropist? Yes, I can get on board with this.
Harebrained Schemes"parted ways” with former parent company Paradox Interactive last October, following lower-than-satisfactory sales ofThe Lamplighters League. Discussing the decision, Paradox chief operational officer Charlotta Nilsson declared that “a new project or sequel in the same genre was not in line with our portfolio plans”. It’s rumoured that Harebrained pitched a new Battletech game to Paradox before the split. I wouldn’t be surprised if nascent ideas for Graft took shape while the studio were still part of theCrusader Kingspublisher.
