The Persistence

Mechanics

In The Persistence, one observes the action from the first-person perspective. During the game, a player explores consecutive rooms and cabins of an enormous ship (the layout of which is procedurally generated), solves numerous environmental puzzles, and fights the encountered enemies using a diversified arsenal – a player gets at his disposal e.g. gravity bombs and a pistol shooting dark energy bullets. Moreover, the main protagonist is equipped with a special device allowing him to recover stem cells from the bodies of the fallen enemies, which enables him to develop particular traits and abilities (speed, endurance, stealth). To top it all, in the game, one can find a serum, which temporarily increases the main protagonist’s strength – this proves extremely useful when there are no weapons around. Nonetheless, as the enemies usually attack in groups (eliminating them is not easy), one can sneak past them and hide beyond their sight.

Interestingly enough, in the game, protagonist’s death is permanent – whenever he dies, a player has no other choice than to assume the role of another character woken up from hibernation. Each playthrough features different challenges – thanks to the procedurally generated content, the arrangement of the ship’s locations as well as the distribution of all the items and enemies change each time, which significantly increases the replayability ratio of the game described herein.

Game modes

The Persistence focuses on the single player mode. However, together with the game, an application has been published, which allows inviting other players to join the game – using this app, the companions can control the doors, distract enemies, and disarm traps with their smartphones.

Technical aspects

The Persistence for PS4 delivers high-quality 3D visuals – claustrophobic and futuristic rooms resemble the locations one might remember from System Shock. One should remember that the game requires a Virtual Reality headgear in order to work.