Austin, Texas based developer Edge of Reality has made a name for itself working on other people's videogames. Tony Hawk/Spiderman for the Nintendo 64 and The Sims for multiple platforms are among the team's highlights, but it's reached the point where it's decided to spread its wings, dip into its money bin, and unleash a new IP among the masses. That game is Cipher Complex, a PS3/Xbox 360 action adventure game that's largely shrouded in mystery, though from these concept images, it's rather obvious what type of game it's going to be.

In development for two years and costing four million dollars (and that's at 50% complete), Cipher Complex tells the tale of John Cipher, a government operative that's exploring Siberia, in search of a lost satellite. But that's really all we know because Edge of Reality refused to divulge many details, other than it's working on advanced AI and that there's three other characters, a hot Russian woman named Mishka (what a typical name, by the way), some blonde dude named Coldwell, and another guy named Anakov, who's probably up to no good. That's just our assumption, of course. We can't remember anyone with a V at the end of their name doing anything positive. Hence, he's evil.

While most of our questions were met with the always enjoyable "No comment", Edge of Reality did discuss the AI and how it's going to be more advanced than in other games in the sense that it's dynamic. The NPCs won't always respond the same way, so, for example, blowing up/shutting off a light will yield different results. They might turn the light back on, get it repaired, or grow suspicious and sweep the area.

We were also privy to a book full of concept art, and that provided some clues as to what this game's all about. There were scenes of Cipher stalking his prey with a combat knife, sneaking inside of a tunnel and along walls, operating a turret, and looking down from a mountain, likely spying on his enemies. So if we had to guess, it's probably going to play similar to Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid, a game in which you'll get to silently take out your enemies as well as blow tons of shit up, mostly because Edge of Reality alluded to being able to obliterate the environments. However, they insist that the game has innovative play mechanics that will separate it from the competition, unique features that'll allow Cipher Complex to stand on its own.

At this point, all we can really say is the game sounds intriguing and we'd like to know more. Thankfully, it appears that we won't have long to wait, since the development team plans to hold a grand unveiling at its Austin studio sometime in the very near future. However, until we actually lay our eyes on it and check out how it plays, Cipher Complex sounds like another cookie cutter action adventure title that runs the risk of being overshadowed by the much larger and established franchises. As we previously mentioned, the game supposedly plays much different than its aforementioned competitors, but this isn't the first time a developer has used that line before, and more often than not, these types of games don't live up to expectations. Hopefully in this circumstance, Edge of Reality will prove us wrong.