The Sealab Of Monkey Island: Station Demo

Behold, the glory of the mid-week headline slump. If I have to defend this one - and it's positively ingenious compared to some of my previous work - then let it be known that Station is a point and click adventure set in an underwater facility. There are submersibles. That's about all I've got. Actually, the Monkey Island reference is remarkably inappropriate considering that Station is aiming for tension and horror rather than comedy. If games and cartoons have taught me anything, it's that people will always go mad if they spend more than half an hour underwater, which is why I don't trust deepsea divers, hydrotherapy (it counts) or James Cameron.

If you stopped watching before that long opening sequence completed, skip forward. There are creepy scenes showing the crew 'acting out'. If that's not enough for you, All Correct Games and co-developers Designing Engine have also made a demo available. The scene-setting contains few surprises.

An incident during a routine expedition transforms the underwater mining facility into a deathtrap. You find yourself surrounded by fire, water, bare wires, and crewmembers, off their heads and ready to take a chunk out of you.

The fire will be cancelled out by the water, all being well, but the bare wires will react badly to all of that conductive liquid. As for the crewmembers, I think they probably need a good talking to and a cup of herbal tea.

Despite its classic adventure inspirations, Station is nonlinear, allowing players to find their own escape route, as well as deciding which characters they trust and which they'd rather wallop with a wrench. Or a cup full of brewed nettles.