Genvid Entertainment, the company behind the upcoming Silent Hill: Ascension interactive streaming series, announced today that it’s got another one in the works based on Gearbox’s hit Borderlands shooters. Borderlands EchoVision Live will follow the adventures of eight tourists on a Vault Hunter “adventure safari” who—big surprise!—find themselves marooned on the very hostile world of Eden-6.
The story follows “wanna-be Vault Hunters” embarking upon a three-week guided tour of the planet—exciting, but perfectly safe. Until they end up stranded in the town of Greywater Junction, a place filled with “cutthroats, bandits, and low-thread-count sheets.” Their only hope for a ticket home is to come together in order to overcome their fears and failings, “and avoid the many, MANY bullets with their names on them.”
Of course, the likelihood of that happening isn’t really in their hands: It’s all up to the audience, who will collectively determine “how they handle the pressure, how they relate to each other, and what kind of person—and future Vault Hunter—each of them is.”
“Fans will have direct and permanent influence on the story and characters of Borderlands: EchoVision Live, an unfolding narrative experience in which all audience members engage over which story decisions are made and collectively experience a shared outcome,” Genvid said.
The announcement doesn’t reveal how that interaction will work, but it’s reasonable to assume it will be more or less the same as the system being used for Silent Hill: Ascension. Genvid’s chief creative officer Stephan Bugaj said earlier this month that Ascension viewers will have anywhere from a day to a week to watch each episode and then cast their ballot on what actions members of the cast should take. It’s essentially a slower and more organized approach to Twitch Plays: Majority rules, but there’s more time to ponder, discuss, and organize voting coalitions.
Borderlands is, generally speaking, a lighter-hearted affair than Silent Hill, and so while I expect that there will be the odd fatality here and there, I would also guess that voting in Borderlands EchoVision won’t be quite as grim and weighty an affair as it likely will be in Ascension. At the very least, there should be less concern about handling sensitive subject material with, as staff writer Harvey Randall recently put it, “a deeply considerate touch.” It’s Borderlands, right? Just go ham with whatever.
Borderlands EchoVision Live doesn’t have a release date yet. Neither does Silent Hill: Ascension, but it’s expected to debut later this year.
