Another co-op ghost hunting title is joining the ranks, this time from MiroWin and their newly-announced title, Bureau of Contacts. The 1-4 PvE title will arrive in Early Access on Steam this June, and features a novel way to use AI to drive the gameplay experience.
As an agent of the bureau, you must contact and investigate paranormal entities. Bureau of Contacts features “clear and sequential stages of investigation and exorcism”, with your success in doing so depending on effective teamwork and, of course, your survival. You’ll visit a variety of haunted locations on your own or with friends, each time with new layouts “from an extensive archive of hand-prepared rooms.”
The game’s main feature is its usage of AI technologies – developers trained neural networks to kill. Ghosts in the game decide the fate of its players, depending on their actions and words, making the gameplay unpredictable and encourages replayability. Analyzing the behavior of players, the neural network acts as an invisible scriptwriter, determining the course of the game session and ensuring its outcome. This also includes your actions with other players: Remember that there is room for betrayal and brutal decisions, where other bureau agents may sacrifice you for their own goals.
Bureau of Contacts will also feature a progression system, where players have the opportunity to comprehensively develop their characters and their abilities. Other features planned for the game include generative room layouts, and the ability to communicate with the ghost by voice. Implementation of medium and astral functions, a skill tree, possible VR support and porting to consoles are among other plans for the eventual full release.