Ether One Reconstructing Its Memories For The PlayStation 4

Psychiatrists dive into the human mind (figuratively, of course) in the hopes of helping their patients heal. In Ether One, recently announced to be heading to the PlayStation 4, your job will be to take that practice into literal territory, actually entering the human mind in an attempt to help those in need.

Ether One, the product of a tiny five-person team working out of Manchester in the UK, originally debuted on PC earlier this year. The game went on to earn a lot of critical praise, as well as being nominated for a Develop Award for “Use of Narrative.” During Gamescom this week, the team at White Paper Games announced that, not only will Ether One be arriving on the PlayStation 4, but it’s being rebuilt from the ground up in Unreal Engine 4.

It’s getting pretty common these days to hear about an indie studio bringing their gem to PlayStation consoles. Over on the PlayStation Blog, White Paper Games co-founder and game designer Pete Bottomley explained that the entire team is fond of the PlayStation 4 in particular, and so they jumped at the chance to bring Ether One to a new home.

The game is a first-person exploration title that’s overflowing with puzzles but, as Bottomley explained, solving those puzzles is entirely up to the player.

“If you like to explore worlds and unravel the story without worrying about puzzles, then you’re free to do so,” he said. “However, if you’re the old school adventure, pen and paper type player that loves solving all the puzzles, then Ether One has a lot of that for you, too.”

Pete Bottomley went on to explain that, if you choose to dive deeper into the puzzles, you’ll be rewarded with an even deeper narrative. So I guess you could say you’re able to play Ether One Either Way. *snicker*

In the game, you’ll be taking on the role of a Restorer, someone who has the ability to enter the human mind and explore a 3D representation of all the things going on in that person’s head. Your targets will be people suffering from mental illness, and your goal is to help fix the broken pieces in order to restore them to better health. Yeah, that’s pretty heavy stuff.

“Our aim with Ether One is to tell a story about how fragile the human mind can be and what it would mean for someone close to you to not even be able to recognize you anymore,” Bottomley said. “A lot of you reading may have experienced the effects of dementia first hand. If you have, we hope a game like Ether One will help you relate to your own experiences.”

No word yet on a release date, but look for Ether One to be playable on the PS4 eventually.

Ryan Winslett

Staff Writer for CinemaBlend.