PlayStation fans have been following the development of AMY for some time now and have been giving us tremendous support – we sincerely thank you for that. Others are just discovering this original upcoming PSN survival-horror game for the first time. What none of you have seen is the actual gameplay that lies at the heart of the game: the very unique relationship between Amy and Lana, our lead character.
When you mention ‘a very unique relationship’ in a video game, it may bring to mind ICO, a game that many of us consider a milestone in video game history. The recent re-release of the HD version by PlayStation brought back many memories for us. The first time you finished ICO, what remained was great emotional depth and a rare feeling of empathy for Yorda, the young woman you try to protect. Before playing ICO, the simple idea of protecting a non-playable character seemed tedious and dull. And yet, in ICO, you never had the feeling of doing a long escort mission. You really wanted to protect her.
In Amy, we didn’t try to ape ICO and the two games are quite different; each developer has its own references, world, and vision. But one thing is the same: the constant effort to create empathy for the secondary character. As Lana, a young woman in a city infested by zombies and monstrous creatures, you try to protect Amy, an 8-year old girl that doesn’t seem to talk. Lana is infected and fights against a virus that threatens to transform her into a mindless beast. Only Amy, unexpectedly, can temporary heal her so that they have to stand by each other.
The bond between the two characters is made visible by the way they look at each other, by the way one can protect the other, but also by the way they hold each other’s hand.
The hand that you take when you want Amy to follow you is at the heart of the game. In many occasions, it even means salvation in your extremely hostile environment: when holding Amy’s hand, you can hear her heart beat and you can even feel it (with a rumble controller). When she feels a close danger, you can be sure that fear is conveyed directly into your hand, especially when you know you’re about to fight a fierce enemy.
In the exclusive video we’ve just made, you can see how the two behave and cooperate with each other. Our core focus was to try to make you want to keep Amy safe. If you want to learn more about Amy, you can see our previous video about Lana’s infection here. Please check out our official site for more details and support us on Facebook. Thanks for reading!
31 CommentsAdd Yours
1
Posted on 3 November, 2011 at 8:02 pm by Pacman_Ownage
I was only saying the other week how Amy info seemed to come and go.
I was never a fan of ICO and Shadow Of The Colossus, so I’m a bit weary it’s being… ‘compared’ to ICO…
However, I am still very intrigued by the development of Amy, and more than likely will be buying it straight away
..I know a few Amys, and it’ll be nice to finally play with one :3
2
Posted on 3 November, 2011 at 8:12 pm by Falcon1991
This looks very very intriguing and interesting to me.
I love how you can sense the hostility of areas by Amy’s heart rate.
I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more, best of luck to you.
3
Posted on 3 November, 2011 at 8:17 pm by N-T-Krist
is there anyone here that has an idea about the status of the Payday vouchers for us that got suckered into the PLAY promotion.
& to think I mostly bought it to show support to Sony after a year of hardships. The thanks? Not gettin any word on any delays they’ve put the game through and when it finally arrives I’m left hanging with out my redemption voucher.
16 years of being a loyal customer owning more original games than anyone I know on all 3 platforms, never had a problem before this year, but this year it’s also just been pouring in for all the 15 gone before.
4
Posted on 3 November, 2011 at 8:41 pm by ABTR
LOL #3 go to official forum http://community.eu.playstation.com/t5/English-Forums/ct-p/55
This game looking good with great graphics But i want to see more from combat system
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 9:03 am by Djamil Kemal
Hi ABTR, our next video will focus on how to deal with the enemies. We’ll show the combat system and also show how you can sometimes choose other options
5
Posted on 3 November, 2011 at 8:41 pm by HazelAM
watching the video it didn’t really remind me of Ico, actually it kind of reminds me of the sections in resident evil 2 where you have to rescue Sherry Birkin, i just loved the way she used to come up beside you and reach up and hold your hand when you were standing still.
it brought out the maternal instinct in me.
and Sherry wasn’t dead weight like Yorda is.
but i’ll leave discussion of team ico director, Fumito Ueda’s opinions on what females are capable of for another time.
anyway, this looks ike a very interesting title.
i imagine getting Amy’s behavior right was a big part of the development, ask any gamer and they’ll tell you escort missions are usually the worst part of a game.
and when they’re bad it’s usually because of the AI.
but then those are usually just one quest/mission in the game, and i imagine the AI didn’t get the attention it deserved.
with Amy though she’s one of the core features of the game so i expect more time was put into her AI.
the game is looking pretty good so far.
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 9:05 am by Djamil Kemal
Thanks for your post HazelAM.
And you’re right, we worked quite a lot on Amy’s AI and overall behavior as it is a very important part of the gameplay.
6
Posted on 3 November, 2011 at 8:57 pm by PhoenixHD
I haven’t heard of this before, but it looks very interesting!
I think I’ll be keeping an eye on this one.
7
Posted on 3 November, 2011 at 9:09 pm by rlau1
I’m with you N-T-Krist.
First, apologies for posting off comment, but no one seems to be listening (perhaps we’re the only handful of people who bought in to this scheme….). I’ve searched around and theres nada regarding this situation.
I feel like I’ve been suckered in to the PLAY promotion too. I put down the money on the other games as promised, and happy I was with them too.
But I, like others have been waiting for the code for the Heist, where my friends have already got the game because they bought it straight off the store, or pre ordered just that game.
No news, no updates. Why run this promotion if you can’t back it up? A very disapointed Sony fan….
8
Posted on 3 November, 2011 at 9:17 pm by kivi95
Lost my sight for this game the day you guys said it was not exklusive anymore. BUT if it’s really really god I might buy it.
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 9:08 am by Djamil Kemal
Hi kivi95,
What we can tell you is that the PSN version is not a port from the XBLA version. More than that, we believe the version is fully optimized for the PS3 and we really hope you’ll have a solid game, especially when you consider it’s a PSN game and not a retail version. Cherry on the cake, we swear you’ll have a pretty good value for money.
9
Posted on 3 November, 2011 at 9:25 pm by CassyChan
Awesome.
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 9:09 am by Djamil Kemal
10
Posted on 3 November, 2011 at 9:30 pm by Catkiller1
I’m starting to understand why Skookie whinged on a daily basis.
INCOMPETENT SONY!
NOT EVEN 1 REPLY TODAY ON THE PAYDAY SITUATION!
ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING!
CARRY ON & YOU’LL HAVE ANOTHER WELCOME BACK PACKAGE SITUATION!!!!!
Surely we should receive something as a good will gesture & an apology?
11
Posted on 3 November, 2011 at 9:36 pm by Galvanise_
Lots of tearing in that video. I don’t usually notice it, but it was really jarring.
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 9:11 am by Djamil Kemal
Hi Galvanise,
You’re right and we’re really sorry for that. We could have made a much smoother video but it would have been additional days and we know many of you have been waiting for gameplay footage for a while now. Hence we decided to release the video as such. Thanks a lot for your understanding.
12
Posted on 3 November, 2011 at 10:08 pm by BLAKE_
carkiller what are you on about!, there are no codes, just go on the store and download it, its free if you already bought the pre order, jesus
13
Posted on 3 November, 2011 at 10:29 pm by Catkiller1
@ BLAKE_
Before you have a dig at someone get your facts straight!
If you purchased the 4 PLAY titles then you receive PAYDAY for free, via a redemption code that is sent to your Forum messaging account! JESUS
14
Posted on 3 November, 2011 at 11:34 pm by RedeyedRonin
Art & Zombies its about time those two were introduced to each other dont you think?
it’s survival horror at its core, its claire & cherry, rebecca & billy, leon & ashley, chris & sheva but with one fundamental difference.
You acually care if amy gets torn apart buy a crowd of approaching zombies, brilliant cause i didn’t care less if cherry,billy,ashley or sheva got there face torn off not one bit.
They were just inconceiveably dumb and just a burden somthing im sure you guys dont want at all am i right?
anyway cant wait for this oh and see to it this gets a plus discount will you times are tough guys christmas looms ever closer.
15
Posted on 3 November, 2011 at 11:59 pm by carlosdfn
God I hope they fix that frame-rate. So much tearing. I really want this to be good. Please be good.
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 9:13 am by Djamil Kemal
Hi carlosdfn,
We’re really sorry for the video glitches. The game itself is quite smooth.
16
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 12:03 am by c20thBoy
HEY HEY HEY! Chrono Cross was just announced on the US PSN blog for a November 8 release – any news on when we’re getting it?
17
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 12:12 am by foolishoptimist
FYI: The link to the games official site is broken.
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 9:15 am by Djamil Kemal
Thanks a lot foolishoptimist, I just notice the Sony blog team right away
18
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 12:47 am by Dante_Zero
can’t wait. also will you be doing any more red johnson chronicles?
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 9:16 am by Djamil Kemal
Hi Dante_Zero
As for Red Johnson’s Chronicles, the answer is YES 
Thanks a lot
We’ll make an announcement soon
19
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 10:00 am by Catkiller1
The PAYDAY codes have been stolen & locked in a vault!
It’s now up to us, to find that vault & retrieve our codes
20
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 10:02 am by Hell-Raiser-85
Day 1 buy for me love survival horror games. Will it have a platinum trophy? Any release date or price?
21
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 10:28 am by solidmsnake
im a big fan of survival horror games you get the feeling someones following you or you don,t know whats behind the next door im getting this when it comes out.
22
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 12:59 pm by Sp4reNL
Like many others said the video has lots of tearing.
You say you know this but wanted to push out the video ASAP anyways so people can see it.
I think around 90% of the people that see this video (if not on this blog then somewhere else) won’t read your reply and only think the graphics are poor and will walk away from the release. IMHO this wasn’t a really smart move…
23
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 1:00 pm by Sp4reNL
Oh and the game itself could be pretty creepy I think
looks like enjoyable gameplay. If I can find some time I might try it one day 
.
24
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 1:08 pm by Jesse-Blue
This game looks really interesting and unique.
But please fix the horrible screen tearing that appears to be non-stop even in quit scenes!
It is really nauseating event to only watch this video.
You really need to fix this!
25
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 2:30 pm by hayzink
this game looks like something i would enjoy, i love how psn games are becoming more like retail titles.
@catkiller
hey bud i understand your frustrations but you of all people(because you post alot) should know that replys are rare when you post in totally unrelated topics, call cs and complain i got a free copy of heavy rain once and modnation another time because i had a valid complaint about my service, give that a try you would have more luck than here.
26
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 2:54 pm by Capeview
First time I heard of this game, but thought there were a few issues with the video that I thought was iffy.
When they showed the part of the Amy going through the small vent in the wall, it looked big enough for the adult to get through. If it was a much smaller hole, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it.
And why does the main character not have her own light??? Seems a little pointless too.
I can see that Amy helps with the healing side of things as something different, but some of the other stuff they have added, just seems iffy.
Will have to wait and see what else comes from the game.
27
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 2:59 pm by Dante_Zero
wooohoo more red johnson chronicles.
28
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 3:30 pm by kit-tiger
The game is shaping up very well, after a huge drought since the only other survival horror worth mentioning (SIREN: BLOOD CURSE), Amy is very welcome. Liking the look of the environments, atmosphere and detail, I support you chaps !
29
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 8:04 pm by OttoT
It kind of looks like a ps2 game. Low res textures and eveything looks flat.
30
Posted on 4 November, 2011 at 10:36 pm by serendipiddy
i really liked the companionship of ICO and SotC. I look forward to seeing where you guys have taken it
31
Posted on 9 November, 2011 at 4:33 pm by Rocstarr
Looks good
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