According to Blade Interactive’s Pete Jones, “games have got to be done differently, it’s got to change. People are looking at next generation like last generation, but we need a different way of thinking. We’ve got to show gamers something different.” Not the words you’d necessarily expect to come from the head of a studio whose biggest hit has been a Snooker simulator.

But Blade Interactive’s latest project - Hydrophobia - aims high. Recruiting talent who’ve worked on Splinter Cell and Fable 2, a genuine astrophysicist, people from the movie biz and letting loose the imagination of a team limited to making baize look brilliant in high-definition, it’s rare to come across such genuine excitement in a development team.

And while Hydrophobia is a blend of the old and the new, what’s new is groundbreaking. A thousand page document fleshes out the backstory of a game influenced from every water-based Hollywood movie from The Poseidon Adventure to Titanic. You’re in control of Kate, an engineer on a massive super ship sailing with the understated handle, Queen of the World. Loosely based on an ill-fated real world project called the Freedom Ship, the Queen of the World is a gargantuan floating city, a ten-deck behemoth with Skyscrapers, shops, casinos, restaurants, golf-courses and even beaches, designed as a haven for the super rich. Since she never sails in territorial waters, it’s an attractive place for wealthy individuals to dodge taxes, and companies to dodge laws.