There’s no escaping AI any more. It’s in our search engines, boiling down art to expressionless slop, and giving us the wrong answers to easily verifiable questions. Not to get all doom and gloom, but it’s also only going to get worse. On the upside though, so much of our art is coming into direct discussion with the wave of AI content, and a new adventure game from the critically acclaimed developer behind Norco is taking the issue head on. This is Silenus, and you can try it for free on Steam right now.
Set on an oil refinery run by AI androids, Silenus is all about the dangers of artificial intelligence, shady megacorps, and puzzle-solving. It’s also drenched in an oppressive atmosphere and Baton Rogue doom metal. The indie game is Geography of Robots’ follow-up to the award-winning and beloved Norco, but trades gorgeous pixelated graphics for grungy, low poly ‘90s techno stylings.
Playing as the android Titian, you explore an oil refinery run by the enigmatic Rubens Link corporation in this “narrative micro-adventure.” Workers are missing, a giant robot hologram tells you to dance to stimulate your cognitive functions, and every screen is filled with delightfully retro scanlines.
Oh, the Silenus demo also includes an entire album from Baton Rogue doom metal band Thou, so if you fancy listening to some new tunes while collecting them in a virtual oil rig, this is the perfect cocktail of experiences for you.
Geography of Robots’ previous game Norco also made our Game of the Year 2022 shortlist, and it was nominated for Best Debut Indie Game at The Game Awards that same year. It even went on to win the Long Form Award at A Maze Berlin too. So if you’re yet to try the confronting point-and-click adventure, Norco is 60% off until Thursday May 23, expect to pay $5.99 / £5.11 until then over on Steam.
With a full release date to be announced, you can play the Silenus Umbilical pre-release demo right now. Silenus will launch in full by the end of 2024.
Silenus isn’t the only upcoming PC game to keep an eye out for, and you can add to your backlog while you wait for it with the best PC games currently available across the internet.
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