Mercury used to be a medicinal staple, until we realised that it was incredibly toxic and doing more harm than good. In the near-future of The Mercury Man, humanity seems to have forgotten all about that, leading to people getting illegal mercury transfusions in an effort to cure all known diseases. As a ‘mercury hunter’, players will find ‘mercuries’ and put a stop to their nonsense. Imagine a Russian Blade Runner where replicants have been replaced by health nuts.
I’m not sure if the bizarre premise is a result of translation problems (the trailer and screenshots are full of broken English), or if people really are pumping their body full of literal mercury and somehow not instantly dying. It’s not entirely clear why they’re being hunted down, either. The screenshot below mentions new diseases and maybe the ‘mercuries’ are somehow responsible, but the text seems to have been run through Google Translate, making it hard to understand.
Despite my bafflement, the stylish trailer and mixture of point-and-click adventuring and turn-based tactical fights has definitely tickled my fancy, and I always have time for gloomy Russian noir.
The Mercury Man is due on Steam in Q1 of this year.
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