Come with me, but slowly and quietly: 4:AM has a date. Dark Zone Studios announced that its cinematic puzzle platformer launches on PC, via Steam, on December 10, alongside a new release date trailer.

An escape in the dark

The game is set in a near-future dystopia where society is split in two: those who control a mysterious substance called the Yellow, and those used as lab rats to produce it. Aila is one of those lab rats and has just escaped the facility. In this world light is dangerous and brute force solves nothing; she has to observe, improvise and know exactly when to run.

Copy and paste the world

At the heart of the game is N.O.D.E., a system that lets you copy objects from your surroundings and place them somewhere else. Furniture, debris, light sources and tools become cover, distractions or escape routes, while electricity, water and fire react to materials and context. Isn’t that a clever idea? There is no single correct solution.

You can sneak through, trick enemies or improvise in a panic. They react to sound, movement and any disruption, though, so a lovely plan can turn into a desperate escape in seconds. The same object can protect you, give away your position or turn the environment against you, depending on how you use it.

Our take

The comparison with INSIDE and Little Nightmares comes from the announcement itself, and the mood fits: a small heroine, a hostile world, environmental puzzles and almost no words. My little gamer heart tightened just from the trailer, but it is the object-copying mechanic that could give 4:AM an identity of its own. Pricing has not been announced.

See also this month’s game release calendar.

Source: Dark Zone Studios.