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Frictional Games, the mastermind behind the acclaimed horror games Amnesia and SOMA, has published a teaser trailer for its newest game (via Resetera).
Unlike the previous reveals, this video takes place from the perspective of a poor soul who is lost in a sandstorm. “Don’t lose it, no, no, come on!” says a voice as the person tries to open their eyes in the storm. “Need to find him, he must understand. I am Tasi… I am still Tasi.” Looking out on the scene, there’s a glowing cave with strange rock outcrops surrounding it, and then the video ends.
Hm. Let’s put our thinking caps on. On the official Frictional Games website, there’s a symbol that looks a little like an eye. This eye holds a link to an unlisted YouTube video, and this displays a rock cut clean across with a blue outline inscribed on it. The outline seems to follow the same shape as the eye symbol. Another unlisted video found in the website’s code gives an audio recording of an experiment with the “Triple Crown” that had “partial success.”
The prevailing theory is that this “Triple Crown” is the Triple Atef Crown, or Hemhem crown, which was an ancient Egyptian ceremonial head piece. “Hemhem” means to “to shout” or “cry out,” and the new Pharaoh would be bestowed the headpiece by two gods upon his ritual crowning. The Triple Atef Crown is also linked to representations of sunrise and rebirth, and the little… thing on Frictional Games’ website looks like a fetus. So, combining all of this information, I reckon a shady research body found the artefact, realised it had true powers of reincarnation, and then put it on someone’s head. That went really, really, really wrong.
Then, the archaeologists thought, “Let’s keep doing this instead of putting the headpiece back where we found it and sealing it with a million tonnes of concrete.” They found that using adult hosts for the artefact didn’t work, but what about a child? The research team grows the child—that’s them on the website—and when they’re in adolescence, they give the child the Triple Crown. It works! But, this transforms the child into a monster, and they go on a violent rampage through the facility in their terrified, confused state. The player is that child, and they grapple with their split identity. Or, the player is a survivor who must find a way to change the child back and destroy the crown.
Also, I think that the person sounds like voice actress Alix Wilton Regan, and she has been teasing secret projects on Twitter in recent times. She’s a phenomenal performer, so here’s hoping she is on board. And, all of this is speculation. We’ll have to wait and see what Frictional Games has in store for us with a proper reveal in the future.
Watch the “I am Tasi” teaser below.
