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THE GAME

Sometime in the late 2000s, Howard James Wright, an old but kind man, passes away. Left behind are all the relics of a long and interesting life. Books, pictures and journals, memories - the dust and debris of an adventurous youth - and Sarah, his granddaughter.

Left to shoulder the arduous task of clearing out her grandfather's attic, she is soon to find that not everything is as it seems.

What Never Was is a short, story-driven first-person game focused on exploration and puzzle-solving.

It is inspired by the gameplay of Myst and classic point-and-click games, a touch of Indiana Jones and The Longest Journey and borrows themes from norse mythology and the work of H.P. Lovecraft.



WHAT NEVER WAS: CHAPTER II

Development of the sequel to What Never Was is underway. When releasing the first game, I had no idea that I would be working on a continuation so soon, but thanks to the endless support and enthusiasm for what had already been released I am excitedly working hard on Sarah's upcoming adventure!

This Chapter will see Sarah dive deeper into the mysterious world of magic that her grandfather hinted at and will be bigger and (hopefully) better than what the last chapter held.

The release is still a ways off - but I'm excited about where Sarah's adventure takes her next, and I hope that you are too!



WHAT NEVER WAS IS AWARDED AN EPIC MEGAGRANT

I am extremely excited to announce that What Never Was has been awarded an Epic Games MegaGrant.

The Epic MegaGrant is a fund that helps developers of games and other projects using the Unreal Engine, in hopes that these projects will succeed.

What this means for me, is that I will have the possibility to make What Never Was: Chapter II live up to my ideas, and hopefully also manage to complete it faster. I am extremely honored, happy and grateful to Epic Games for this, and will be sure to put it to good use.

A GAME MADE BY ACKE HALLGREN

I've been in the video games-industry for some time now, but What Never Was was my first published project that, for all intents and purposes, my very own.

Obviously, it is a passion project, one which I have been tending for quite some time. What initially started as a 3D-environment exercise has now slowly blossomed into this: The first chapter of a game which was never really meant to be, with a second chapter now on the way.

Thanks to the Unreal Engine and with the support of a small band of creative and wonderful (sometimes even wonderfully creative) people, the game I never thought I'd make is now released.

This slice of what is now the story of Sarah is very dear to my heart and, should you choose to play, I truly hope you enjoy it.

CAST & SUPPORT

Michaela Gilchrist

Voice Actor (Sarah)

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Adrian Ulvsgärd

Voice Actor (Howard)

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Alice Rendell

Additional writing

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Otto Klevnäs Klang

Illustrations

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Mario Ramos Santos

Hand model and animation

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Tomas Almgren

Music mixing

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Mia Matsson

Web Design

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ADDITIONAL CREDITS

Egypt Photographs taken by

Jean-Claude Latombe


Playtesting and support

Rasmus Friberg

Tobias Nyman

Joakim Ohlsson

Björn Wadmark

Karl Gärsner

Malin Nilsson

Anton Johansson & Caroline Wiens

Lotta & Mark Forster

Linda Leveau

Henrik Irskog

Matteo Sandén

Dan Peake

Mårten Stockhaus

Chris Radsby

Mathew O'Halloran

Steven Chelton

Carrie Sloane

Franco Freda

Alisa Nylund

Ben Wilson