Black State: Everything We Know

While you wait for the launch of the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, you may want to get acquainted with Black State. It’s an upcoming game that draws heavy inspiration from the popular action-adventure stealth franchise. While plenty of information about the story, gameplay, and release date remains under wraps for now, we’ve compiled the bits the developing team has let escape from their grasp. Here’s everything we know about the upcoming game, Black State.

What is Black State?

Black State is an upcoming single-player, story-driven, action-adventure, third-person shooter game. It tasks you with opening a series of mysterious doors. You don’t know what lies behind the doors. All you do know is that a secret group of Architects want you to save captives, possibly held behind the doors. Alongside a rescue mission, you’ll also need to uncover a dark mystery about a cataclysmic event. 

The upcoming game prides itself on incorporating photorealistic environments. You can catch a glimpse of it in the trailer, which, unfortunately, capitalizes a little too much on photorealism. The end result looks glassy, with a plastic feel for the visuals. Hopefully, the final game prioritizes authenticity above all else. Meanwhile, the developing team promises “countless elements of surprise that gamers have been demanding for so long.” 

Story

Black State will place its focus on a single-player, story-driven adventure. It’ll craft a “rich, mysterious, and emotional” story packed to the brim with “deep, engaging characters and unexpected twists.” A huge chunk of your time will be spent exploring your surroundings. While exploring, you’ll discover hidden secrets and unwind a gripping story. According to Steam, the story will be engaging, so much so that players will be pulled into it from start to finish. It’ll tie into the secrets you uncover, making every aspect of exploration meaningful. Throughout your exploration, you’ll be anxious to find out more and discover the ending.

Gameplay

Gameplay-wise, you can expect to toggle between stealth and upfront combat mechanics. You’ll infiltrate military bases and take out enemies without being spotted. If you’ve been seen, you’ll jump into action, decimating groups of enemies all at once. Check out the key features you can expect in the final game below.

Key Features

• Real-time door mechanics: You’ll move from level to level through in-game doors. It’ll take away loading screens as each door leads you to unexpected and diverse places. As a result, you’ll enjoy a “dynamic and nonrepetitive gameplay experience.” You cannot predict where doors lead, adding an element of surprise to your playthrough. However, you can trace your steps back in case you’d like to redo an area. 
• Photorealistic graphics and optimization: Black State promises “ultra-photorealistic graphics,” complete with jaw-dropping environments and deeply immersive visuals. 
• Weapons and tactical gadgets: You’ll access stealth and intense combat tools and weapons whose use cases vary extensively. From guns, rifles, shotguns, pistols, knives, and explosive throwables, combat will consistently push you to experiment. You can also slow down time mid-combat, further ensuring each move and decision you make counts.
• Enemies and close combat: Get ready to decimate diverse enemy types, including elite soldiers and relentless robots. While you can hide from enemy fire, at some point, you’ll need to break cover. Plus, enemies can call for reinforcement, pushing you to take them out as soon as they sense your presence. Black State plans to incorporate over 100 kill moves, each requiring precision and strategy to pull off. 
• Boss fights: In addition to varying enemy types, they are formidable bosses. Each boss will have unique attack patterns. So, you’ll need to learn their moves, while also keeping an eye out for weaknesses.
• Mature content description: You’ll play through intensely violent scenes and listen to strong language. Stealth will be a close-up view, which, with melee attacks using knives, can get bloody. Similarly, explosions can lead to broken body parts and even dismember some enemies. 

Development

Motion Blur is currently buried deep in the development of the upcoming game, Black State. The Turkish-based studio will also be responsible for publishing the game once ready for deployment. The upcoming game will be the studio’s first rodeo, which must put a lot of pressure on them to deliver. They are drawing inspiration from some critically acclaimed games, with the studio saying, “We constantly admired games like The Last of Us, Metal Gear Solid, Uncharted, and many others that push the limits of development and gameplay mechanics. Inspired by these influences, our small team is committed to delivering the highest development quality and exceptional gameplay mechanics, despite our limited size.” So far, they have released a reveal trailer, citing that the video is “only the tip of the iceberg” and that “there’s so much more to come.” 

Trailer

Black State’s official reveal trailer is out now on YouTube. Right off the bat, the photorealistic visuals powered by Unreal Engine 5 stand out. Though, the visuals quickly begin to feel glassy, with authenticity slipping through the cracks. At its core, there seems to be a focus on showcasing the stealth mechanics you can expect. Perhaps due to low visibility, enemies aren’t able to spot you quickly enough. Once combat begins, though, the protagonist’s precise shots and quick reflexes shine through. Towards the end, the protagonist goes up against a robot guy who strangely wears a raincoat. 

Release Date, Platforms, & Editions

“To be announced” marks the spot for Black State’s release date on Steam. Unfortunately, that’s all we know about the launch window. Still, you can always add the game to your Steam wishlist to get a notification as soon as it drops. Consequently, you can expect the final game to launch on PC platforms via Steam and the Epic Games Store. Editions, however, remain unconfirmed at this time. For more updates, feel free to follow the official social handle here. We’ll also keep our eyes peeled for new information and let you know as soon as it comes up.

So, what’s your take? Will you be grabbing a copy of Black State when it drops? Let us know over on our socials here.