{"id":1419125,"date":"2025-12-07T21:35:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T21:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/E7HNtaAo99jFZjaNCsMUAU"},"modified":"2025-12-07T21:35:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T21:35:14","slug":"the-creator-of-popular-animated-short-the-backwater-gospel-is-making-an-fps-inspired-by-half-life-and-the-golden-age-of-narrative-first-person-shooters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-creator-of-popular-animated-short-the-backwater-gospel-is-making-an-fps-inspired-by-half-life-and-the-golden-age-of-narrative-first-person-shooters\/","title":{"rendered":"The creator of popular animated short The Backwater Gospel is making an FPS inspired by ‘Half-Life and the golden age of narrative first person shooters’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Animator Bo Mathorne, creator of the 2011 animated short, Backwater Gospel, has revealed a new game project alongside developer Thomas Mygind: Skarven<\/a>, a crunchy, lo-fi (but not too<\/em> lo-fi) FPS inspired by narrative-heavy late ’90s\/early aughts shooters like Half-Life.<\/p>\n

Skarven’s first trailer<\/a> is all mood and light on action. The player approaches a lonely country house with an industrial mill looming behind. In Danish, a TV anchor drops some crumbs of world building as the player creeps through the house: We’re seeing a rising retirement age and increased labor automation thanks to a Children of Men-style bottoming out in fertility rates. We pick up a chunky, Fallout 10mm-looking pistol, the TV cuts out, and a freaky, Nihilanth<\/a>-type dude pops out to attack.<\/p>\n

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