There’s a video going around online of a new upcoming shooter called Unrecorded. The game is being developed by the French indie studio Drama. The video shows a police officer entering an abandoned building and engaging in shootouts with what seems to be criminals in the area.
The gameplay has gone viral on Twitter after its photorealistic gameplay was first mistaken for a real-life video. At the time of writing, the video has been watched 18 million times on Twitter and has over 70 million impressions.
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The gameplay video for Unrecorded has also caused a divide on the internet. According to co-director and programmer Alexandre Spindler, Unrecorded is being developed on Unreal Engine 5. As a result, the game is able to deliver some unbelievable photorealistic visuals. So much so that some people believe its hyper-realistic visuals combined with the game’s body cam shooting is taking gaming too far.
Some users are questioning the need for the game to look so realistic as it tricks their brains into believing it is real. Some users say that a game like this isn’t doing any good. In fact, it causes people to lose empathy and get desensitized to the gore and violence involved in shootouts. The “think of the kids” debate has also popped up.
Many users are comparing the gameplay for Unrecorded to something you will find online where real leaked videos from military or police investigations show the same level of violence.
“The clear distinction between real and fake is necessary, but this level of realism, in my opinion, gives real credibility to the nonsense politicians have been spewing for years about video games conditioning young people to lose a sense of empathy toward violent tendencies or situations.”
As a result of the viral video, Drama released an update on Steam to discuss some of the issues viewers had and address some of the claims where users said the game was a “fake scam”.
There have been many doubts raised about the authenticity of the gameplay. The game is developed on Unreal Engine 5, and the game footage is captured from an executable and played using a keyboard and mouse. It is not a VR game. In reality, it seems rather flattering to compare the graphics of Unrecord to reality, but fortunately, we know that a game first focuses on gameplay and universe on which we primarily concentrate. Considering the high production costs of a video game and our global reputation at stake, if Unrecord were a scam, it would be a blockbuster scam. Therefore, it is logically not one. We do not use any real videos or external rendering to Unreal Engine for the creation of Unrecord. Unrecord is (un)real.
The studio also tackled the sensitive nature of the content in the game and the depiction of violence with photorealistic visuals.
As a French studio addressing a global audience, the game does not engage in any foreign policy and is not inspired by any real-life events. The game will obviously avoid any undesirable topics such as discrimination, racism, violence against women and minorities. The game will have no biased or Manichaean take on criminal acts and police violence. We also respect and understand people who may feel disturbed by the game’s images. Art cannot fight against interpretation.
Justifying the undisclosed content of the game would be a spoiler, and you will discover the direction of the themes for yourself. The public generally trusts film, series, and novel writers on the intelligence of the point of view when it comes to detective, gangster, or police stories. Why not for a video game? If the game presents political messages, they will be made consciously or in your interpretation. If the game aims to be subversive in certain countries, we will assume the label.
You can think of it what you will but Unrecorded has definitely made a dent in the industry. The game is currently in development for PC and you can wishlist it on Steam to stay updated on its development. Here’s the trailer below:
