Boundary is the FPS game that asks the compelling question, “what if an astronaut had a gun?” Its hyper-realistic looking space combat is resplendent in ray-traced lighting in a new benchmark demonstration video, which developer Surgical Scalpels published today.
The clip begins in a small cluster of debris floating inside a space station module – there’s a mist of water droplets, metal shards, an exploded soft drink can, and a silently ringing mobile phone all slowly tumbling through the zero-g environment of the capsule. And then, lo and behold, a gun.
The camera pans to a fully-suited astronaut approaching an airlock door, taking up a position where they can peer through the small porthole. The astronaut holds a pistol at the ready, noticing the emergency call as the mobile phone bumps against the door. They brush the phone aside, and push back into the module, just as the airlock door is riddled with bullet holes from the other side. Two enemy astronauts burst through as a breaching charge blasts the door in half.
Here’s the clip:
It’s all a chance to show off Boundary’s use of ray-traced lighting effects, and they look awfully good. It’s a weird mix of convincing realism and credulity straining action – is an AK-47 really going to be able to sustain automatic fire in the vacuum of space, you might understandably wonder.
Put your physics quibbles aside for now, though. As of September 24, you’ll be able to download the benchmark to see how well your PC handles Boundary’s graphical demands. We’re not sure yet whether it’ll be going on our list of space games or FPS games (both, perhaps?), and we don’t yet know when the Boundary release date is. But the idea of a zero-G version of Call of Duty in space? It’s an exciting idea that we’re eager to get our hands on.