It wasn’t long ago that Sony Computer Entertainment of Japan revealed their enigmatic title, Panopticon, with a trailer and obscure date on a teaser website. This new title led to a lot of theories, as gamers analyzed the trailer for any hint of what the story and gameplay was going to be like. However, the days of presumptions are now over, as Sony announced today that Panopticon, now officially titled Freedom Wars, is going to be a multiplayer action game for the PlayStation Vita in a 2014 release.
The Freedom Wars title will allow up to eight players to engage in co-op and competitive multiplayer via local and Wi-Fi connections. The game will also use the Vita’s GPS and Near functionalities.
It wasn’t just the gameplay that got fleshed out, though, as more light was shed on the story and setting of Freedom Wars.
The game’s setting is in the near future where humanity has been forced out after a (currently unknown) crisis throws the world into ruin. Cities called “Panopticon” were built, and are now the only places on Earth where humans are able to survive. However, these closed-in sanctuaries don’t have unlimited resources, and they are drying up fast. The fear of this ticking time bomb has forced the cities to use any desperate methods in obtaining the research required to live in the severe environment. As a way of controlling the citizens, the cities’ governments have enacted tyrannical, draconian laws that allow the sentencing of criminals for an imprisonment of millions of years, a sentence that as been passed on most of the population.
These “criminals” are going to be the main focus of the game, as players take control of these war “volunteers,” and lead them through missions to help “recapture” civilians, taken by giant monsters called Abductors, as a means to earn their penance and freedom.
You can go to Sony’s official game website for more information. You can also watch the trailer here:
