Hydrophobia on Playstation 3 Blow-Out.

Billed as a "survival-adventure" title by developers Dark Energy Digital - the team behind the excellent Inferno Pool - Hydrophobia uses an innovative new water based engine that will see players dynamically control H20 in order to complete puzzles and progress through the game.

Here's everything we know about the innovative new property.

  • Hydroengine. The Hydroengine is a powerful new games engine developed by Blade Interactive. Built over a period of three years, the engine allows the modeling of flowing water for the first time. Because the water is dynamic it means that similar events will not occur in the same way twice. As such the developers can use the Hydroengine to make interesting puzzles around the mechanic of water. Hydrophobia will be the first game to take advantage of the engine.
  • Plot. In the mid-21st century the world has fallen at the hands of the Great Population Flood. You'll play as Kate Wilson, an unlikely protagonist thrown into action when terrorists attack a city sized cruise liner named the Queen Of The World — a purpose built haven for the prosperous away from the overpopulated world. The terrorist organisation attacking the cruise liner are known as the Malthusians, named after Thomas Malthus who predicted that population growth would one day outweigh population.
  • Gameplay. The water will play the biggest part of the gameplay in Hydrophobia. With walls, windows and doors crashing under the weight of water flow, situations will require quick wit and clever use of the game's mechanics. Using the water physics will be advantageous depending on the type of player you are. For example; some players may choose to tackle a shoot-out in a foot of water, while others may choose to distract the enemy by flooding the environment.
  • Release. Hydrophobia was originally planned for release in March of this year but as such has temporarily dropped off the radar. We've heard some rumblings that the game may release as episodic content via the PSN but a quick Google search gave us no confirmation of this.