PAX EAST 2020 | "Maneater"
We finally have the perfect shark simulator. Okay, perhaps “simulator” isn’t the best word to use, as it’s more of a pure fantasy. Tripwire Interactive’s Maneater gives you the chance to act like the most badass shark around, causing carnage wherever it swims. At PAX East, I had the chance to demo the first twenty minutes of this certainly unique video game.
Via the smooth sounds of actor Chris Parnell, you are told how to maneuver and use your skills to survive and cause chaos on the ocean. At first, it’s small fish and turtles that you’ll be clamping your teeth on, as you get used to your maneuvers and the like. Once you’ve mastered the art of surfacing, jumping, and tail whips, it’s time to chow down on some humans. On the sandy beaches, every swimmer and sunbather is your meal-to-be, with your prey swimming in panic to avoid your powerful jaws.
After you’ve raised enough of a panic, that’s when the hunters arrive to attempt to kill you. Using your strength, you’ll have to ram into boats and kill the diving hunters that swim close by. With enough force, you can send the boat underwater, giving you some extra meat to sink those fangs into! But alas, you’re caught in the end, killed, and your baby thrown into the Florida bayou. And that’s when their story of revenge begins!
It’s amazing to see how much detail that has been placed into Maneater. The way the shark moves is certainly some of the most realistic I’ve seen done with these beasts of the ocean. When it comes time to attack, seeing the people and fish be ripped to shreds is the right amount of campy goriness, the kind you’d see in a SyFy schlockbuster. Add in Parnell’s humorous documentarian banter and narration, and Tripwire certainly has whipped up a winner of an open world adventure!
The full Maneater experience promises seven open worlds and loads of action-RPG elements to make your shark the deadliest in the waters. Like a blend of Grand Theft Auto meets Jacques Cousteau films, Tripwire’s upcoming seafaring video game is itching to lurk into the darkest oceans and overtake unexpected players with the grandest of surprises. If the rest of the game is as exciting as this demo was, then Maneater will certainly become one of the most talked-about games of the year.
Maneater arrives on PC, Xbox One, and PS4 on May 23. A Nintendo Switch version will be available later in 2020.
