Video Games
AI-Driven Ghost Hunting Title ‘Bureau of Contacts’ Comes to Steam Early Access This June [Trailer]
Another co-op ghost hunting title is joining the ranks, this time from MiroWin and their newly-announced title, Bureau of Contacts. The 1-4 PvE title will arrive in Early Access on Steam this June, and features a novel way to use AI to drive the gameplay experience.
As an agent of the bureau, you must contact and investigate paranormal entities. Bureau of Contacts features “clear and sequential stages of investigation and exorcism”, with your success in doing so depending on effective teamwork and, of course, your survival. You’ll visit a variety of haunted locations on your own or with friends, each time with new layouts “from an extensive archive of hand-prepared rooms.”
The game’s main feature is its usage of AI technologies – developers trained neural networks to kill. Ghosts in the game decide the fate of its players, depending on their actions and words, making the gameplay unpredictable and encourages replayability. Analyzing the behavior of players, the neural network acts as an invisible scriptwriter, determining the course of the game session and ensuring its outcome. This also includes your actions with other players: Remember that there is room for betrayal and brutal decisions, where other bureau agents may sacrifice you for their own goals.
Bureau of Contacts will also feature a progression system, where players have the opportunity to comprehensively develop their characters and their abilities. Other features planned for the game include generative room layouts, and the ability to communicate with the ghost by voice. Implementation of medium and astral functions, a skill tree, possible VR support and porting to consoles are among other plans for the eventual full release.
Moon Studios dropped a new trailer during the Sony State of Play for their dark action-RPG No Rest for the Wicked, while also hinting at the long-awaited launch window for the full 1.0 release. The game, which has been in Early Access on Steam since April 2024, will be launching this October in full for PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam, while versions for the Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2 will arrive at a later date.
As a token of appreciation for supporters new and old, Moon Studios is offering an exclusive Early Access Founder’s Pack, a free limited edition bundle available for anyone who purchases the game on Steam prior to July 10, with rewards unlocking when 1.0 officially launches. PlayStation 5 users can receive the Early Access Founder’s Pack by pre-ordering the game once available, any time before launch day.
The Founder’s Pack includes:
- A New Secret Hideout: Spirit Cavern – The legacy of Moon Studios now lives inside No Rest for the Wicked, exclusively for Founders. A hand-crafted home that bridges both worlds.
- Sayer’s Vow: An all new Sword in the stone reserved just for the founders that only early adopters can extract in the game world.
- A Custom Founders Tag ensures players are clearly identified as early adopters.
- As a Founder member, players will get access to an exclusive Public Beta Test Realm reserved just for them, even after the 1.0 game launch.
As for the full 1.0 release, it will be a massive expansion of the core experience, introducing a staggering 60+ hours of new content, a new horde mode, powerful new weapons, bosses and enemies, new areas and a completely reimagined class system.
In No Rest for the Wicked, players take on the role of a “Cerim,” a member of a holy order imbued with mysterious powers, tasked with destroying the Pestilence, an ancient plague that has begun to consume the island Isola Sacra, itself already the site of great political upheaval and death.