Hello PlayStation nation! My name’s James Hunt and I’m the Game Director for Fast Travel Games’ new PS VR2 title, Mannequin, coming in 2024. You may know the Fast Travel team from our long history of single-player VR experiences like Cities: VR and the upcoming Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice, but Mannequin will be our first ever in-house multiplayer title, allowing up to 5 players to enjoy suspense, social deduction and fast, sudden action.
Frozen in time
In Mannequin, our first original IP since 2019’s The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets, the world is reeling from the appearance of an extraterrestrial presence. Sites across the globe have started mysteriously freezing in time, and first responders called to these areas have become motionless, helpless statues.
Not only that, but a race of alien beings has been discovered at these locations, known to you and I as Mannequins. They boast potentially life-threatening abilities, and it’s up to a team of special Agents to hunt down these supernatural new threats before they themselves fall victim to the Mannequin’s powers.
What follows is a tense game of cat and mouse.
Fight to a stand still
In a standard match of Mannequin, three players work together as the titular aliens, facing off against a team of two Agents. As Mannequins, you’ll have the ability to assume a pose and then freeze yourself, turning into a statue with the appearance of one of the trapped first responders. You can use this power to set up the perfect ambush, lying in wait for Agents to appear and then dashing forward freezing them in-place with a touch of the hand.
But Agents are far from defenseless. Armed with state of the art technology, they can scan levels for a Mannequin’s rough location. Catch the enemy in the act or suss out which statue is an enemy in disguise and you’ll need to blast them with your laser pistol. The first team to wipe out the other wins, but there’s a few more twists that make Mannequin a game of intense strategy and shifting favor.
The race is on
Each of the game’s levels features Power Stations that Mannequins can steadily drain. Draining two Power Stations will grant the team enhanced powers, including the ability to see exactly where your enemy is. This can quickly turn the tide of a match, but Power Stations make for high risk areas that Agents are likely to keep under close watch. Make sure you’re not stumbling into a trap.
Agents also have another reason to defend these Power Stations. If Mannequins haven’t claimed them within three minutes of the start of a match, the human team will get the upgrades instead. Each side can also revive any downed allies, but this too creates the perfect opportunity for a deadly ambush.
This makes each game of Mannequin a sharp, tight and tense exercise in hide and seek. Can the Mannequins fool the Agents into thinking they’re friendly, then strike at the right moment? Or will an Agent’s cunning and use of gadgets help them come out on top?
Get involved
Here at Fast Travel, we know that making the best multiplayer games can’t happen without the support of our fantastic community. We want to know what you think of today’s reveal and what you want to see in the full game when it launches in 2024. We will have more to share, including the first gameplay footage, soon.
We really believe that Mannequin is going to be a flagship multiplayer game for PS VR2, but that can only happen with your help. Until next time, ask yourself – who can you trust?