I came across a booth at E3 from 1C Company, which is a company I am not familiar with. Turns out that 1C is one of the biggest publishers of games in Europe and they were showing off one hot looking PC title called Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason and I was able to spend some hands on time with the game.

Cryostasis is a PC DirectX 10 title originally voiced and with Russian text. In fact, the E3 demo version was in Russian, which made it hard for me to change the controls to my liking. The rep on hand assured me that when the game launches here in the U.S. in Q4 of this year it would have English menus.

The setting for Cryostasis is a derelict Russian icebreaker that was caught in an ice trap long ago. Your character is a Russian meteorologist caught inside the ship who must find out what happened to the ship and its crew.

As you wander around the ship, you will encounter areas with dead crewmembers and “Mental Echoes” which allow you to see what happened to a particular crewmember or in a particular area. The cool part is that you have the ability to change the past, and therefore change the future as you see through the eyes of those who were in the ship before you. If you are able to keep the people from dying as you go through the mental echo, you are able to change the fate of the crew.

Graphically, Cryostasis is simply top notch. The ice textures seem so real you think you could stick your tongue to them. Rather than a health meter, you have a gauge that shows your body’s core temperature. When you are hit by enemies, you get colder, regaining your health means warming up. When you find rooms you are able to heat up, the ice melts leaving a wet sheen on the surfaces of the room where the ice used to be.

In the game, there are more than 15 different enemies and 7 NPCs that help you along the way. Eight different weapons from the period the game is set in are also at your disposal and operate realistically. The bolt-action rifle for instance takes a few seconds to reload, adding to the tension as you run from enemies and try to get another round off as they are attacking you.

Cryostasis is a very original FPS game that fans of the FPS genre will defiantly want to check out. This game should be a marquee title for DirectX 10 like Crysis and Hellgate: London in my opinion, the graphics were that good. The 1C Company Pr man tells me that 1C game titles in the U.S. will be distributed by Atari, so keep your eyes peeled for this game.

Click here to watch the Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason game trailer.