F.E.A.R. busted onto the scene in 2005 and raised the bar for first-person shooters with its state-of-the-art artificial intelligence that used the environment for cover and reacted unpredictably to the player's moves. The original developer, Monolith, parted ways with publisher Vivendi Games, which in turn handed the F.E.A.R. games to Timegate Studios, resulting in the Extraction Point and upcoming Perseus Mandate expansions. Although Vivendi kept F.E.A.R. in name, Monolith retained rights to the characters and set forth to develop a direct sequel and held a fan contest to name it. Project Origin emerged.

Project Origin starts in a hospital half an hour before F.E.A.R.'s explosive ending decorates the city of Auburn with a mushroom cloud. Players won't play as the original character, known as the Point Man, or have anything to do with the special-ops force sent to investigate paranormal events. Instead, players become the equally anonymous D-Boy, working for a counterterrorist unit called Delta, sent to arrest Genevieve Aristide, the president of Armacham Technology Corporation. However, he has the same lightning-fast reflexes that slow down time, but the reason for shared powers is still a mystery. Additionally, the protagonist has the ability to catch glimpses of the future, which will no doubt mess with players' minds as much as Alma.

After an opening sequence where the main character suffers a near death experience (or does he?), he puts on a pair of high-tech sunglasses that also serve as an information screen. Delta then has to make sense of all the carnage while battling supernatural forces and Alma, the psychic with a mean streak a mile wide. The Armacham Technology Corporation also has some surprises in store, since many of their failed experiments managed to break free while the company covered up its tracks and destroyed all evidence of its involvement with the events of the first game. Alma herself is quickly becoming an escalating threat. As her powers expand, even people who aren't touched with some sense of the supernatural will be able to see their effects. The majority of the story centers on revealing more of Alma's background.

But all the backstory involving angry psychic spirits and experiments gone wrong merely sets things up for the complex artificial intelligence to do its work. Enemy combatants will have their behaviors upgraded to better react to players and use the environment to their advantage. Speaking of the environment, it will be more interactive than ever. Players can overturn furniture to use as cover or destroy obstacles. Shooting plaster walls and concrete columns kicks up dust clouds, just like in the first game, obscuring vision. Combat retains the in-your-face action, where enemies face-off in narrow hallways and enclosed rooms, and foes shoot from less than ten feet away. Lastly, Project Origin will implement a faction-based system, which can earn players allies, or even turn some foes against each other.

Releasing for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 systems in 2008, Project Origin looks to bring fear and excitement back into gaming. Stay tuned to GameDaily for the latest news until then.