"The Flock," an indie multiplayer horror video game, will only be playable for a limited period of time. "The Flock's" game developer, Vogelsap, said that when all players die in the video game or when the Flock reaches zero, the game will be permanently shut down, a report from Tech Times said on Sunday.
As Tech Times noted, this new gaming concept of Vogelsap will be implemented by way of integrating a feature called an in-game population of the Flock which are reportedly monsters. While playing the video game, players will start as monsters in a quest to get the so-called "Artifact." When a player apparently dies in the video game, this will reportedly lead to the permanent death of one member of the Flock and the process will remain until such time that the whole population of the monsters hits zero.
According to Gamespot, the population countdown will be monitored through a widget, which will be displayed in the in-game menus, the Steam store page, and other social channels. The report stressed that if the Flock's population reportedly hits zero, players won't be able to purchase the video game again. Dutch game studio Volgelsap stressed that gamers who bought "The Flock" video game will be able to join the "cinematic finale" of the game.
"After the ending, the game will go offline permanently and no longer be playable. The game will not be playable offline. It is online multiplayer only," said an employee of Vogelsap as quoted in the same report.
A related report from Forbes, further disclosed that there is "no planned sequel," as stressed by Volgelsap. "We want the game to have a climactic finale after which people will fondly remember the game, instead of it to slowly wither away."
Meanwhile, Volgelsap hinted that players can actually win in the game by surviving as a Carrier, but it emphasized that its light must be extinguished.
"Each player begins as a member of the Flock, when a strange light emitting device known as the Light Artifact will suddenly appear somewhere on the map. The first player who touches the Light Artifact will transform into the Carrier, who then becomes the hunted. Equipped with the Light Artifact, the Carrier can defeat the Flock by using the Light Artifact to illuminate the creatures. The Flock can in turn avoid the light's lethal effects by remaining motionless when caught by the beam. When a member of the Flock successfully lunges at the Carrier, it seizes control of the Light Artifact and becomes the new humanoid hunted. The previous Carrier then respawns as a member of the Flock just arriving at the scene," Volgelsap explained, as quoted in the Gamespot report.
