My immediate reaction to Animal Use Protocol, elicited through an image of a grim-looking monkey holding a mouse, was what you might expect: Why is that monkey holding a mouse? I was curious, as the saying goes—but after learning the game is being developed by The Brotherhood, very suddenly I was interested.
The Brotherhood is an indie studio based in South Africa whose previous releases include Stasis, Stasis: Bone Totem, and Beautiful Desolation—all of them isometric point-and-click adventures, decidedly strange and more than a little creepy. The Stasis games (and the free prequel chapter, Cayne) are straight-up horror affairs, while Beautiful Desolation is something of a departure—not so much unpleasant as just balls-out weird. None of them have been breakout hits but I dig their vibe, and so when I saw The Brotherhood was taking a shot at a first-person game, I wanted to know more.
