Moonray Studios has been constructing the frozen underwater palace of Debris for three years — a fruitful period which oversaw the launch of a shock and thaw single-player campaign in 2017. Now, a highly anticipated co-op offshoot has risen to the surface, bringing with it disturbing new mysteries unique to the Arctic abyss. It’s scheduled to arrive by February 26.
Visually, I’d say Debris looks like the union of Cthulhu and Subnautica with Abzû as marriage celebrant, and what happens in the plot follows that general setup: A team of scientists embarks on a quest to extract hyper efficient energy reserves embedded in sub-arctic meteoric debris. You are one of the distinguished team members lucky enough to trail along, but after a series of random explosions, a primal, unidentifiable energy current drags you down by the limbs, pressuring you into a series of glacial caverns. You knew audiovisual hallucinations were to be expected in hypoxic conditions, so you dismiss it. At first. Playing as videographer Ryan, or lead engineer Sonya, you’ll quickly come to realise that niggling sense of dismay is well justified. Something is down here, desperate to hinder your escape plan. In your attempt to flee, you’ll need to wrestle with frightening alien creatures, search the underwater labyrinths for clues, and try to keep your blood pressure down. It could be listening.
Debris is out now for $19.99 USD via Steam (Mac, Windows).
