Californium
Release date: Feb 17, 2016
Developers: Darjeeling, Nova Production, ARTE France
Publishers: ARTE France
Genres: Adventure, Casual, Indie, Simulation
Categories: Single-player, Steam Achievements, Family Sharing
Supported languages: English, French, German

Taking the form of wacky shenanigans and a first-person experience of a bad trip, Californium pays homage to sci-fi legend Philip K. Dick (Blade Runner, Minority Report, Total Recall, The Man in the High Castle, etc.) by transporting you into the life of a writer who is searching for his own identity. Will you find what’s behind the simulacra ? Berkeley, 1967. Experience the perils of coming down off acid, a post-breakup bout of depression, and the anguish of a dying career: Welcome to the life of Elvin Green, a science fiction writer in deep distress. Get ready for a sensory trip that will derail your sense of reality and replace it with powerful hallucinations. You spend your time and money on drugs and cheap alcohol, and are plagued by insomnia and struggles with blank page syndrome. Vague memories of your wife Thea and your editor Don bleed into each other. Everything you thought was real starts to crumble. It would be so simple to give in to the promises of alternate realities, each one more attractive than the next… Will you let these ever-present voices take control of your mind? Californium plunges you into a psychedelic world, leaving you searching for glitches in the matrix. Darjeeling, Nova Production and ARTE France are proud to present this downright love letter to the world of Philip K. Dick. Experience counterintuitive art direction by Olivier Bonhomme (Homo Machina), an exhilarating soundtrack by Xavier Thiry, and an incredible performance by actor Paul Bandey in the part of the mysterious Theta.

Press reviews: “This is a smart, gorgeously presented game, novel and peculiar.” Rock Paper Shotgun “An ode to Philip K.Dick and to the science fiction genre.” Gameblog “The '60s retrofuture aesthetic is beautiful to play through.” Motherboard