1979: The Game gets another outing, 'baton-pass' narrative goes from translator to student protestor

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What we don't know about 1979: The Game could fill a book. First revealed in a video interview with RT in February, this ambitious open-world game from former Rockstar cinematic director Navid Khonsari has just enjoyed a second, even higher-profile unveiling courtesy of CNN.

The CNN piece included detailed descriptions of "levels" in the game; a "baton-pass" narrative will have you playing as an American/Iranian translator before taking the role of a student demonstrator. It's also curiously specific about the game's multiplayer mode, indicating that there are "12 maps planned for release" which, considering how early the game ostensibly is, strikes us as more wishful thinking than actual product description. Khonsari's company, Ink Stories, has done some cinematics work in the past but has never actually made a game, not to mention one containing notoriously expensive (and expansive!) open-world elements. In other words, there's not a lot to show since we spoke with Khonsari in February.

But regardless of the game's actual level of production – Khonsari says it's in alpha and "at least a year and a half away from release," though that sounds optimistic – his ideas are worth reading about. He wants 1979 to be a game where there are no good guys, and the moral ambiguity of real-world situations forces players to reconsider what they think they know about the world. In February, Khonsari told Joystiq that the game would be self-published, though he mentioned that the interest from third-parties was "overwhelming." Let's see if 1200 words on CNN adds to that interest.