Late last year, we here at Horrorbuzz got the chance to review an early build of Flying Mollusk’s “Nevermind,” a unique game which alters itself based on biological feedback from the player. That is to say, the game is compatible with several outside peripherals to do things like monitor your heart rate to figure out when you are scared or stressed and then change the game world accordingly. Now, we are pleased to bring you the latest news about “Nevermind,” in the shape of a huge accessibility upgrade. While “Nevermind” already supported six different methods of biofeedback input, two more are being added today with a third coming very soon.

Nevermind Trailer from Flying Mollusk on Vimeo.

The first of the new products being supported is Affectiva’s Affdex, a technology designed to watch people’s faces and measure their emotions. It will use this to monitor for signs of distress on the player’s face so that the game can adjust based on this. The more distressed that the player gets, the more sinister the game world becomes. The best part of all this is that you likely won’t even need to buy any new hardware to take advantage of the emotion-sensing Affdex. It works with most basic desktop or laptop webcams. I personally think this is a fantastic addition, as it opens up the biofeedback component of “Nevermind” to players who are unable or unwilling to buy new peripherals just for the game.

Also newly supported as of today is the Tobii EyeX, a small hands-free eye-tracking controller. Flying Mollusk has revealed more about specifically how this product will interact with the game than they have with the others. They have revealed that it will use what it gathers from following the player’s eye movement “to unlock new features in parts of the game, such as shining a flashlight in the direction a player is looking or helping the player calm themselves when they close their eyes.” I think that this sounds great. “Silent Hill: Shattered Memories” already showed us that something like this has great potential (for those who haven’t played it, that game is entirely in first-person and keeps track of where the player directs the character’s attention and uses that information to adjust the game),so I think that taking that and building on it with the improvement of following the player’s actual eye movements is a great idea, especially with the addition of having the other biofeedback available to the game.

While it’s not included in today’s update, Flying Mollusk has revealed to us that they are planning to soon also include support for the Apple Watch. This will be used to monitor the player’s pulse to look for sudden increases that might indicate fear or stress. Admittedly, this one seems a bit less innovative than the other recent additions to the game, as it already supports multiple devices to monitor heart rate. However, the Apple Watch is almost certainly more wide-spread than any of the other devices currently supported. So much like with Affdex, this is going to open up the biofeedback aspect of “Nevermind” to a host of players who otherwise wouldn’t be able to experience that aspect of the game.

These are some pretty big improvements. In addition to the coming support for the already widely adopted Apple Watch, the integration of the EyeX and Affdex both sound as though they will be adding a lot of new depth to this game. It’s nice to see that Flying Mollusk aren’t just resting on their laurels after creating already such a unique experience with “Nevermind,” but instead are still actively working to improve it and make it even more disturbingly singular.

For a limited time, Nevermind can be downloaded for $15.99 – 20% off the retail price – from http://store.steampowered.com/app/34226.

Apple Watch support is coming soon for all Mac and iPhone users. Apple Watch can be purchased at Apple retail outlets or online at http://www.apple.com/watch/.

Tobii EyeX Controllers are supported for Windows 8.1+ and can be purchased at http://www.tobii.com/xperience/. A live demonstration of Tobii’s eye-tracking technology in Nevermind will be available at Tobii’s booth (booth # 1932) at the Game Developers Conference March 16 – 18. 

Affdex is supported for Mac and Windows 7+ and requires only a basic web cam. A live demonstration of Affectiva’s emotion-sensing technology in Nevermind will be available at Affectiva’s booth (booth # 2405) at the Game Developers Conference March 16 – 18.