Overview

Developer: Monolith
Sanity official page: http://www.lith.com/sanity/
More Sanity resources

Psychosomatic

Jason Hall, King of teh Monstars!!! of Monolith and Something Awful fame, got in touch with us yesterday and offered us a sneak-peek of the demo for the upcoming Lithtech 2.0 powered Sanity. The demo weighs in at a hefty 61MB, giving you 2 singleplayer and 2 multiplayer maps in return.

Big fan

Cain taking a nap

The game is set in 30 years into the future. A serum has been discovered that unlocks incredible psychic powers in the human mind. The people injected with it are able to shape energy and matter, creating fireballs, lasers and even clones of themselves from seemingly thin air. However, there is a price to pay for this power. Many of the test subjects begin to lose their sanity, turning irrational and violent. Some become criminals, often gathering vast power that traditional authorities are ill-equipped to combat. The government creates the Department of National Psionic Control, or DNPC, to fight these criminals. As a Psionic member of the DNPC, it falls on you to be a field agent and wield your power responsibly.

Campaigning

The single player game is very much like an action-adventure. There are puzzles to solve and people to interact with. This isn't a top-down Soldier of Fortune - you can't blast your way through, killing indiscriminately.

Move it!

Sucking up to the boss

The first map is basically the setup for the backstory and the tutorial, where you learn how to use your Talents and interact with the environment. There are a few simple puzzles to get you in the mindset necessary for the second stage.

The second stage seems to give a pretty good feel what the game is like. You'll start off with a bit of combat against weak, normal people without psychic abilities. Then it's time to solve a few puzzles, enjoy the scenery, and get back to more fighting. There's a balanced, pleasant feel about the gameplay. The combat can be very hard if you screw up - the enemies might not be the brightest boys in the world, but they hit hard. Expect to die quite a few times before you learn how to fight them efficiently.

The puzzles are simple and generally not all that difficult. They seem to serve mostly as a nice change of pace, to keep the game fresh.