If you're a PlayStation Network dork like I am then you're likely familiar with the title Linger in Shadows. Notice that I used the word title here, because Linger in Shadows, from Polish developer Plastic Studios, isn't really a game. Rather, it's what's known as a demoscene project, an interactive, game-like foray that's really more of a technology and concept showcase than anything else.

Linger in Shadows had its fans. Some players liked what Plastic was trying to do, but I suspect most got into it because of its low price point or its Trophy roster, which is perhaps the easiest Trophy roster in existence. Either way, Plastic had themselves a cult hit on the PlayStation Network, and as the studio's director revealed on the PlayStation Blog , Sony asked them to "closely investigate [the] possibilities" of the PlayStation Move once Linger in Shadows came out, when Sony's motion device was still in its prototype form.The result of Plastic's investigation is the PlayStation Network-exclusive title Datura , a demoscene project that, this time around, is actually more of a game than a showcase. I was lucky enough to see Datura in the flesh and even got some hands-on time with it. I'm happy to report that it has incredible promise for those looking for something different. It certainly won't appeal to a wide audience, but for the gaming nerds it's squarely aimed at, I think the seeds of something special have been planted.At the outset of Datura, your character will be in the back of an ambulance. Using the PlayStation Move controller, it quickly becomes clear that your character's hand can be manipulated on-screen in true 1-to-1 motion. You can fiddle with the covers settled over your body and get a hang of some ancillary controls before you're suddenly transported -- likely in a dream state -- to a beautiful forest. It's here in the woods that much of Datura's old-school, adventure-inspired gameplay takes place. Datura invokes games like Myst in a major way, encouraging exploration and interaction with various items and objects you encounter in the environment.It should be noted that Datura doesn't have to be played with the PlayStation Move. You could very easily use a DualShock controller instead. But it's clear that Datura was designed with PlayStation Move in mind. The Sony representative showing me the game insisted that Move was the preferred method and you could see why. Datura's design encourages you to interact with everything around you, and you get a pseudo-tactile feel from using the PlayStation Move controller to, in turn, control your character's hand on-screen.Datura totes an ambient soundtrack and a simplistic yet beautiful look. The forest is awash with delicate hues and your decisions slowly-but-surely alter the look of everything around you. That's right; Datura forces you to make decisions over and over again, giving it inherent replay value. As your character stumbles across certain objects in the forest -- a dozing pig or a hollowed-out tree, for instance -- you'll be transported away from the forest into a new location where the game's inherent decision making slant comes to the forefront.That hollowed-out tree brought me, in turn, to a frozen lake. To the left of me was a trophy buried in the ice. To the right of me a hand struggled to plow through the ice. By choosing the right path, the character busts out a pick axe he found in the hollowed-out tree to smash through the ice. That dozing pig, on the other hand, must first be awakened. Once he is, you'll be placed into a car, where you'll quickly careen down the road. The pig you woke up appears in the middle of the road ahead. Will you run it over or veer out of the way?Though the Sony representative insisted that no one is judging the decisions you make in terms of morality, it becomes pretty clear that the forest grows darker and more riddled with flies when making more unsavory choices, while positive choices give a brighter look to the forest, one replete with butterflies.Does Datura sound strange? It definitely is. But that's why it's so appealing. Plastic hasn't delivered something contrived at all, and whether or not the entire package works or not rests almost entirely on what the overall vision of the game is, which still remains to be seen.I was told that Datura will be on the PlayStation Network "pretty damn soon" at a yet-undetermined price point. In the meantime, color me intrigued. Oh… and did I mention that I played the game for a time using a Sony HMZ Visor with a PlayStation Move controller attached to it? Talk about surreal.