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Aaron Schurman of 8Monkey Labs described the videogame as "a wild time travel adventure" while giving AFP a preview of his brainchild.
Players start the game as a member of General Custer's unit trying in vain to fend off annihilation by Native American Indian warriors in Montana during Old West days in 1876.
Shortly before being finished off by Indians, the player's character is rescued by "time agents" and recruited to help expose and stop someone that is tampering with history.
Players' characters dare battlefields and even an erupting Mt. Vesuvius to make sure people who were supposed to survive do and that outcomes of the momentous events aren't altered enough to change the future.
"We get a chance to take you to some pretty crazy times," Schurman said. "We wanted a game that is the way we feel, or wish, time travel would work."
Schurman assembled a team of videogame industry veterans at 8Monkey Labs to create a title he has envisioned for a decade. Schurman is chief executive of Phantom EFX, which is publishing "Darkest of Days."
The 8Monkey team strived for historical accuracy in game settings that include Pompeii; battles of Antietam and Tannenberg, and a World War II prison camp.
Schurman said the only intentional deviation from historical accuracy was giving Custer a last stand on a hill instead of on an open plain to make for more intriguing game play.
8Monkey engineers built a software engine to accommodate sweeping battlefields, hundreds of combatants, and the chaos of warfare, according to Schurman.
In-game chatter is tailored to whatever languages would be used in those places at those times.
"I wanted people to feel like they are pushed through the time portal," Schurman said.
"There is an amazing twist when you find out who is changing history and why; that's all I'll say about that."
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Players start the game as a member of General Custer's unit trying in vain to fend off annihilation by Native American Indian warriors in Montana during Old West days in 1876.
Shortly before being finished off by Indians, the player's character is rescued by "time agents" and recruited to help expose and stop someone that is tampering with history.
Players' characters dare battlefields and even an erupting Mt. Vesuvius to make sure people who were supposed to survive do and that outcomes of the momentous events aren't altered enough to change the future.
"We get a chance to take you to some pretty crazy times," Schurman said. "We wanted a game that is the way we feel, or wish, time travel would work."
Schurman assembled a team of videogame industry veterans at 8Monkey Labs to create a title he has envisioned for a decade. Schurman is chief executive of Phantom EFX, which is publishing "Darkest of Days."
The 8Monkey team strived for historical accuracy in game settings that include Pompeii; battles of Antietam and Tannenberg, and a World War II prison camp.
Schurman said the only intentional deviation from historical accuracy was giving Custer a last stand on a hill instead of on an open plain to make for more intriguing game play.
8Monkey engineers built a software engine to accommodate sweeping battlefields, hundreds of combatants, and the chaos of warfare, according to Schurman.
In-game chatter is tailored to whatever languages would be used in those places at those times.
"I wanted people to feel like they are pushed through the time portal," Schurman said.
"There is an amazing twist when you find out who is changing history and why; that's all I'll say about that."
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