Polish developer Bloober Team will have a big presence on next-generation platforms in the launch window, as Observer: System Redux is set to release for PC and Xbox Series S/X on November 10th and PlayStation 5 on November 12th, while their brand new project The Medium debuts one month later, on December 10th, for PC and Xbox Series S/X.

　　We've prepared a double feature interview dedicated to each game; in this one, we talked to  Bloober Team's Project Manager Szymon Erdmanski to learn about the additions made to Observer: System Redux compared to the original release, while also discussing the technical enhancements made to this version.

　　For Observer: System Redux, how many additional hours of gameplay are there with the new quests, neural interrogations, and secrets?

　　The exact number of new hours really depends on how you approach the game: a player who likes

　　to get straight to the point will get through it quicker than someone who prefers to take their time,

　　fully examine all nooks, and try all dialog options. In general, we estimate that there is around 20%

　　more gameplay than before.

　　The announcement also mentions 'new game mechanics'. Any chance you could expand a bit on that?

　　We wanted our investigations to consist of more activities than walking, talking, and investigating the environment through two kinds of special vision modes, although these options are still a solid base of our detective’s work. In Observer: System Redux, the protagonist will have a few new obstacles to overcome before finding evidence. For example, some computers will require decryption, others - repairing electrical circuits. If Dan doesn’t have legal access to some apartments, he will have to hack his way through the security system. And since we are talking about a horror game, players can expect some new threats along the way.

　　Some players criticized the PC demo released on Steam for its supposed 'downgrade' compared to the original game. Was that just an old build?

　　Many aspects of graphics - textures, light, VFX, models, animations - have been significantly

　　improved. While we have preserved the original atmosphere of a retro-futuristic dystopia, the game does indeed look a bit different: it's crisper, with more vibrant colors and deeper shadows.

　　Some players prefer the previous softer, more blurry and subdued look of the game. We just went in a different direction here. So, regarding the “downgrade”, we think that it’s more of a question of an aesthetic preference rather than quality. There were also a few obvious bugs in the demo version, but those have already been fixed.

　　Which ray tracing features will be available in Observer: System Redux? Are there any differences between the various versions in this and other regards (resolution, frame rate, etc.)?

　　The ray tracing features we deploy most often in Observer are ambient occlusion and reflections.

　　During our research process, it became apparent that they made the most visual impact in the rather dark and gritty setting of our game.

　　Observer: System Redux will be released on the new generation of consoles as well as on PC.

　　Implementation of ray tracing on these platforms differs, so there may be some differences with

　　resolutions and frame rate as well, although we’re working to make them as least noticeable as we

　　can.

　　Are you going to take advantage of any PS5 specific features, such as DualSense's haptics and/or adaptive triggers or the Tempest 3D AudioTech? In general, how important do you think they're going to be for games in the horror genre?

　　All enhancements and technologies that may help the player more curious, tense, or scared, are

　　welcome in the horror genre. We were already using vision and sound to communicate fear or

　　caution to the player, and now we have new options to engage players with the sense of touch. So,

　　yes, we do use DualSense’s haptics and adaptive triggers. To quickly touch upon just a few effects,

　　players can now feel the effects of entering the neural investigation or overdosing certain

　　substances available in the game.

　　What are the chances to enable VR support on PC as requested by the community?

　　We listen to our community and definitely do see the potential in VR - which is why we did Layers of

　　Fear and Blair Witch in VR. We will definitely look at this too. Stay tuned.

　　Thank you for your time.