After "Syberia" Microids presents us this time a 1st-person-adventure in Film Noir Style: "Post Mortem". We are adducted into Paris of the twenties of last century. The entire plot of this mystery thrillers takes place in the darkness of the night. Main character is the American Gus McPherson, in former times private detective - specialized in particularly unusual cases. He used the help of visions that overcame him each time, something violent happened in his proximity. After he was suspected to be a serial killer during a vey dodgy case, he withdrew from the detective business and lives frrom then on as a painter in Paris. But that changes, when Sophia appears ...

Sophia Blake (this is also the name of Adrian Blake's wife in the adventure games Pompei and Jerusalem, so watch out for Adrian, maybe this is his 3rd time to rescue her ;-)) is the mysterious woman, who shouldn't be missing in any Film Noir whodunit. She assigns McPherson to examine the murder of her brother-in-law and his wife - the Whytes - because the police apparently does not do too much to clear the bloody crime. The murder wasn't only bloody, the two were beheaded and their bodies arranged in a ritual way. Are these murders an individual case? McPherson assumes there is more behind it and gets involved in the most mysterious case of his career.

"Post Mortem" promises a dark thriller with paranormal elements in the decadent atmosphere of the 20's. Twenty different 3D-characters are implicated in one or other way into the investigations and react in very different ways. Dr. Frank Kaufner is psychoanalyst and the examining coroner now - and he knew the Whytes already before. Commissar Lebrun does not want any trouble in his quarter - he would like best to bury the case.

A flexible dialogue system (with much more questions than usual) will offer the gamers the possibility of changing the emotional contents of their questions and so affecting the kind of interaction and the result. It can happen e.g. that an counterpart does not want to talk any longer or even assumes a completely different behavior. The realism of the game, produced by those true to original scenes - bistros, cafés, hotels, abandoned Metro stations and flats - will be supplemented beyond that by perfect lip synchronicity and film scenes.

The game uses the same engine as "Road to India" and is mouse-controlled. You move as McPherson in 1st-person-perspective and have a 360 degree view around prerendered locations. In cutscenes and conversations however you can have a look at our hero in person. By changing camera views, which are well matching single dialogue lines, a real movie feeling should be created.

Very much importance is attached to non-linearity, so that the gamers find freedom of movement while solving the puzzles, culminating in different game endings. That sounds extremely exciting and could perhaps animate the players to replay the game, because "Post Mortem" is just as short as "Syberia" with 15 hours estimated gaming time (however nevertheless still twice as long as "Road to India"). Since both, the same developers and the same engine, were involved as with "Road to India", one can conclude at least a just as perfect handling here - so that you can delve into the story without distraction by handling or technical problems. We'll get certainty on November 18th.

Minimal system requirements:

• Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
• Pentium II 350 MHz
• 64 MB RAM
• 3D graphic card with 16 MB
• DirectX compatible sound card

Recommended system requirements:

• Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
• Pentium III 500 MHz
• 128 MB RAM
• 3D graphic card 32 MB
• DirectX compatible sound card