Beware

Beware is an open-world driving simulation currently in-development by Ondrej Svadlena, with sharp undercurrents of tension, disorientation, & paranoia. The player is dropped into anonymous, listless locations, hampered by dense fog and rain-slick backroads. Beware at its core is about “information-gathering through exploration,” as the player encounters various solitary landmarks—as well as mysterious events—on their path from a “rural holiday” locale towards a “big city.” The game is currently in-development, with new features and updates announced through Svedlana’s Patreon. Beware’s demo can be downloaded for PC from IndieDB for free, or from Svedlana’s aforementioned Patreon. Beware is being developed using Unity Engine.

Gameplay
According to Svedlana, current implementation of features includes a physics-based driving engine, realistic opponent AI sans rubber-banding, rudimentary stealth, & the presence of one “mission” for players to complete. More features will be implemented in the future, such as faster AI vehicle recovery-time after being struck by the player.

Beware’s demo begins in media res—the player, inside a grizzled, white Škoda 120, drives away from a trailer park. Pavement gives way to the main road—the road in which players will spend most of their time hiding, speeding, & strategizing. Eventually the player encounters a bright, yet functioning Power Plant, hidden behind a chain fence. Its size & light output viciously contrast the environment’s desolation. The player’s sight of it is brief, yet consequential; through the gaps of the chain-link, the player watches four men, in dark suits, suddenly pile into a car. Many players speed off, hopeful that they’d outrun the AI’s range detection. This is not the case.

Soon enough, headlights appear in the rear-view mirror. For a few moments, the headlights seem far away & non-threatening, but this is a ruse. These men—known as Pursuers—are aggressive, keen to apprehend the player at any cost. They attempt this by ramming their car into the player’s Škoda 120 with the intent to cause vehicular malfunction; these men will also attempt to run the player off the road & cause their car to stall or crash. Should the player’s Škoda 120 be damaged too much, it will result in a game over. Being stalled and/or crashed off-road by the Pursuers will lead to them exiting their vehicle & approaching the player’s door. The Pursuers then attempt to rip the driver’s side door open, which the player will hear is successful, as the game delivers a black screen with a single world: “Death.”

In order to evade the Pursuers, the player must be strategic, & use the environment to their advantage. Beware’s roads are littered with tight turns—some are located within the heavy-forested area of the map. These turns can be good opportunities to induce a loss of control in the Pursuers’ driving engine, leading to their becoming wedged between trees, or turned around. It is important to slow down the Pursuers as much as possible; it is even more important that the player keep distance between themselves & the Pursuers for the duration of the game. The Pursuers will continue to hunt for the player even after the player has lost them. Therefore, diligence while exploring is encouraged.

Once the player has lost the Pursuers in the forest, the road will lead to a friendly face. Stood in the briars is an elderly woman known as Babushka. She holds a lamp, & at first, is terrified of the player. The player must be patient in approaching Babushka in order to advance forward in the narrative. Follow the light of her lamp slowly through the forest, careful to evade Pursuers. Eventually, Babushka will approach the player’s car, & gesture for them to follow her.

Babushka will guide the player through the forest, all the way to a small house. She will disappear for a moment—then re-emerge with a quaint portrait of herself & an elderly man in her hands. Babushka holds this portrait up to the player, where the player can then see that the elderly man in the portrait is depicted flipping a power switch. This communicates to the player that restoring power is the objective. In order to do so, the player must have passed by the Power Plant twice—the first time to send out one group of four Pursuers, & the second time to send out the last group of four. In doing so, the player clears the Power Plant of any on-ground security, & is free to enter the gate—which is left open—& flip the power switch, restoring power to the area.