Announcing NERO, the Next-Generation Visual Novel

NERO is the name for an exciting debut project from a brand-new Italian studio, Storm In A Teacup.

is the name for an exciting debut project from a brand-new Italian studio, Storm In A Teacup. But this isn’t just any debut.

Industry veterans Alberto Belli and Carlo Ivo Alimo Bianchi are heading the project, which is to be a first-person video game driven by narrative and player choice, crafted with wondrous next-generation visuals. Belli, the executive director, has been in the industry for a while; both as a journalist and designer. Bianchi, the creative director, has a lot of major CG graphics work under his belt: the Harry Potter and Narnia movies, and games like Batman: Arkham Origins and Crysis 3 to name a few.

“We are extremely excited to bring our beloved project to the players. NERO contains our company vision itself for art direction and storytelling,” Belli said in a press statement. “The idea is to create a benchmark to represent our company, something that players can recognize every time a STC game is out.”

NERO ‘s gameplay focuses on making choices, revolving around “his choices, his feelings, his truth” and light puzzles.

“The narrative in NERO is so important that the games comes from more than 2 years of writing and imagining,” said Bianchi. “The puzzles themselves are connected with the narrative and the ending of the game. We want to make games with a strong storytelling backbone: there is no great product without a great story.”

The game will be showed behind closer doors at GDCin San Francisco, from March 17-21. Otherwise, keep an eye on IGM for more news as it is announced, as well as Storm In A Teacup’s website.