Phase Zero: 10 Minutes of Developer-Led Gameplay

Hi everyone, my name is Michał and I'm part of Spina Studio, a small collective of developers from Poland.

Today we'd like to show you a demo of our game Phase Zero.

What you're seeing now is one of the first chapters of the final game and introduces you to all the key features in a nice easy to digest way as well.

It's 1994 and we're in Flint Peak, a small harbour town in the US.

It's about to be hit by a snowstorm of the century and as luck would have it, a mysterious illness spreads fast through the city as well.

Our aim is to survive the first night.

We need to get to dawn and find out exactly what happened in this small sleepy town.

Now with that out of the way, the demo introduces one of the first two protagonists of the story.

This is a guy who just woke up from a coma and comes face to face with the outbreak.

You don't need to be a survival horror veteran to sink your teeth into Phase Zero.

And we've also made sure you'll learn all the necessary skills during this chapter.

It's a great way to get to know the genre, especially if you haven't had the chance to play the games during the 90s and are thinking of jumping in now.

And don't worry, when you get down to basics, that's when the real fun begins.

As you probably already noticed by now, phase 0 features combat elements.

Guy auto-aims the weapon at the enemies, but he can also swap targets to shoot more strategically.

We've also added the ability for the heroes to shoot and walk, which back in the old days, it wasn't that common believe it or not.

And that means he won't be an easy target when you're aiming.

Now Guy is not the only hero of Phase Zero's story.

In some chapters, you get to play as Merrick, a reporter who has just arrived in Flint Peak after getting a tip about some strange things that are happening in this town.

Both of them, they need to survive with only what they can scavenge along the way.

Hey, you there!

I see you!

Hello?

Listen, the elevator is stuck.

You need to use the stairs.

What?

Who are you?

I'm an employee here.

I'm trapped in the basement.

What is going on here?

Try to reach the exit.

I'll see you there.

Wait, I...

Guy appears to be safe in this room, so we've got a little bit of a moment to catch our breath and just explore a little bit too.

We've made Phase Zero's world using authentic, pre-rendered backgrounds, just like the old days, paying close attention to every detail of each scene.

If you see a little white arrow hovering above things in the area, it's a sign that there's something in this area that the character can comment on or interact with.

One of the most useful things in classic survival horrors is the map.

Phase Zero uses this feature to inform you on where you need to go and where you've already been.

Rooms and doors use different colors to tell you if they've been opened, searched, if they need a key or an item to be used somewhere.

The characters will also leave notes and scribbles on the map just to give you some tips to help you progress and survive the night.

One of the classic genre traits of the 90's survival horror was of course the fixed canvas.

We pay close attention to framing each scene so each space is effectively showcased in a very clear and informative way.

Also, it looks cinematic pretty cool too.

As you can see, you don't need to face each enemy head on.

Sometimes it's just better to leave them untouched, just like your resources.

Now I know that all of you trigger happy people out there, that might be hard to take, but trust me, resources are hard to come by in Phase Zero.

Phase Zero is true to its iconic genre roots, and as such, combat is balanced out with puzzle elements.

You will need to use your wits and find different items to progress through the game.

Alright, let's pretend to be a radiologist.

Alright, let's fiddle around with the controls here and see what will happen.

Nope.

Alright, let's give it another shot.

That's a nope again.

And let's see if we can get it this time.

Nice.

Alright, let's go in.

So, we've located the crank.

That's the good part.

The bad part?

There's a slight problem getting it out.

Yeah, there's no way I'm putting my hands into that thing.

Looks like the bed is missing a wheel.

We need to find it or the bed isn't going anywhere.

Let's venture out into the hospital and see what we can find.

Seems there's quite a lot of locked doors on this floor.

A lot of locked doors.

Did you see the little snowflake shown in the upper right hand corner of the screen?

Well, an autosave has just been made.

Phase Zero uses an autosave feature to make your life a little bit easier so you won't have to rely solely on manual saves.

We're not looking after the classics that much.

Now, this is a survivor horror, so it's always a good idea to be prepared.

We need to re-equip and reload our weapon.

It's also a good idea to have some spare empty inventory slots, so let's combine the medpacks.

Ah, and here's the weather we've been after as well.

Wicked.

In phase 0, items and equipment use different tabs.

It's just a way of us saying, we value your time, so you don't have to run to your stash every time you find or need a key.

Okay, now that we can put the wheel on the bed, the bed can be pushed.

If you ever wanted to push a patient's bed through the hospital corridor and tell me who hasn't, we've got you covered.

Alright, I think I know what's going to happen.

This is going to get ugly.

Yes.

No.

Yes.

Okay.

All right, we got the crank.

That's good.

All right, this is phase zero.

I hope that you like it.

If you did, guess what?

The demo has dropped just now.

So if you want to find out what happens next, download the demo on Steam and continue the story.

Trust me, what you're seeing now is just the beginning.

We're just getting started.

And the rest of the stuff ahead, it gets nasty.

So download the demo now and see what else awaits.