Twisted Shakespeare-inspired Gamelet “to be” in early 2010

What a piece of work is Gamelet, an upcoming quirky Russian adventure from mif2000.

Inspired by Hamlet, the new game is -- in the words of its solo developer himself -- a "twisted" adaptation of Shakespeare's classic play. Players control a "man from the future", who arrives in Hamlet's time just as the Danish hero is about to seek revenge for the death of his parents and rescue his beloved Ophelia from her captors. Unfortunately, you crash land right on top of Hamlet, and must now assume his place in order to prevent the "history" of the world from radically changing.

Over the course of 5 chapters consisting of 25 individual locations, players must solve a series of logic-based environmental puzzles in order to proceed. Along the way, you'll meet the main characters in Hamlet, from Claudius and Polonius to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, plus some new characters as well. You'll also encounter all the key events of the play, though of course the game won't play out exactly like the original. There are even some lighthearted "boss fights" in Gamelet, though these are purely puzzle-based rather than action-oriented.

Gamelet features simple but stylish hand-drawn comic graphics, though the gameplay is somewhat reminiscent of Samorost. The protagonist is mute (although the current goal can be identified through his emanating "thought bubbles"), and the interface uses a single cursor with no inventory, hotspots highlights or verbal/text feedback of any kind. This challenges players to work out solutions and successful sequences only through direct interaction and observation.

Working alone, mif2000 expects to be finished production within the next four months, and aims to release the game commercially both through digital distribution and on disc, with publisher negotiations currently ongoing. In the meantime, for additional information about the game and its characters, be sure to check out the Gamelet website.