Gamescom 2016 round-up: Part 1
Outreach
Outreach, developed by English developer Pixelspill, first caught my attention in early August with the release of an impressive live-action trailer entitled “Aftermath”. The film sequence takes place in Russia in 1996, and shows former flight-controller Radomir Volkov being interviewed about Operation Outreach, a mysterious space mission that took place ten years earlier. While this video clip will not be making an appearance in the game itself, the trailer certainly made me want to find out more about the events from 1986.
When I met producer/co-founder James Booth and PR manager Christopher Bingham at gamescom, I was told that the game centers on the history and conspiracy theories of the Cold War. “We spent three months in early 2015 in pre-production, where the whole team went through historical reference images, news articles, drawings and schematics” James explained. “We even read through history books such as Politics & Society in the USSR, by David Lane, to better understand the mindset of Russian people at the time. Authenticity is important to us narratively, as well as the accuracy of the station environments. We really want it to feel like you are aboard a Soviet space station.”
Outreach sends players to a space station that has lost contact with ground control, tasking us with finding out what happened to the crew. Instead of focusing on traditional adventure game puzzles, Outreach wants players to solve “emotional puzzles”. By discovering diaries, audio recordings, letters, etc., we will find out more about the crew members, get an understanding of their ways of thinking, and piece together the events that occurred. “Naturally Gone Home and Firewatch both influenced the way that narrative is conveyed to the audience,” James added while Christopher started the demo. “LA Noire also inspired aspects of the discovery and detective work found throughout the game.” However, since Pixelspill does not want the crew members to be total strangers when you start investigating them, the game’s prologue takes place during the original mission.
In the short presentation of this first-person adventure created using the Unreal Engine 4 engine, the developers primarily introduced me to movement in a zero-gravity environment. This is an important aspect of the game both in- and outside of the space station. While the majority of the game is set on the station, I observed Christopher going on a spacewalk in full 3D. Using the hands and feet of the protagonist for propulsion, Bingham pushed off from surfaces, grabbing hand rails that started glowing when the character got close enough to reach them. As the controller ended up in my hands, I was able to get an impression of zero-G myself, trying to reach a certain part of the station’s hull. Playing the game for the first time, I lacked sufficient coordination and my missteps killed the character several times. This wasn’t a big issue, though, as the game always re-started the spacewalk sequence, and I got a better after a few attempts. Asked for his suggested playing device, James told me that “the game can be played with both keyboard/mouse and controller, however it depends on player comfort.” As for his own preference, he claimed: “I personally enjoy using a controller and using the triggers to push myself around in the zero-gravity environment. The tactile feel of pushing off a wall is quite fun!”
Going back to the overall idea for the game, Christopher stated that Outreach wants us to feel emotional stress as we start scrutinizing our orders. James added that it’s up to the player to make up his or her mind about what is right or wrong, ultimately leading to an all-important decision. Pixelspill does not want to paint a black-and-white scenario, dictating who the good and bad guys are.
Outreach is currently aiming for a Windows and Mac release in the second quarter of 2017. A decision on potential console versions has not been made yet. It’s far too early to properly gauge the game’s design qualities, but I am certainly intrigued by the ambitious blending of historic and fictional elements, as well as challenging the player’s moral code. The FMV trailer was a good appetizer, but after meeting James and Christopher it’s safe to say I’m very much looking forward to the main course.
The Season of the Warlock
The first time I met Javier Cadenas a couple of years ago, he was a colleague from the adventure game website Aventura y CÍA. This year, while still being a staff writer for our Spanish counterpart, he is also a developer with the independent studio enComplot, presenting their black-humored 2D adventure The Season of the Warlock. Previously known as The Weird Story of Waldemar the Warlock, the interactive homage to old school gothic horror has experienced quite a rocky road to this point after a failed crowdfunding campaign in 2014. “The game’s now pretty different. Some of the people who did the Kickstarter didn’t stay on the project, so what would’ve taken half of the time is now giving us some headaches.” Javier explained. “We’re just two, self-funding the game and hiring some people for what we just can’t do. But still the game has improved a lot, both in game design and in the technical aspects.”
Asked about how that’s possible with less money, Javier Cadenas replied that, “Given the unsuccessful Kickstarter, we felt we had to give more, even if it meant that it’d take us longer given the self-funding. We’re adventure gamers; we strive to get a game we’d like to play. That may sound like a truism, but if you take into account we’ve been talking about adventure games many years now, the commitment may be clear.” According to Javier, the game is currently being implemented into the engine, while the team is finishing off some dialogues. The bulk of what is left consists of translations, English voice-overs, music, and sound. Asked about a release date, Cadenas replied that “the game will be ready for 2017 for sure, but we don’t know exactly when yet.”
Starring Lord Alistair Ainsworth, who shares obvious similarities with horror icon Vincent Price, The Season of the Warlock takes players to the foggy land of Groldavia. In 1841, Ainsworth is conducting a presentation called “Provable Truths about Sorcery and Necromancy” at the University of Edgestow. The lecture focuses on Waldemar Gorobec, a warlock who ruled Groldavia in the Dark Ages, allegedly protecting mages, alchemists and necromancers from hunters until he was burned alive as the result of betrayal. Unfortunately, all of Ainsworth’s academic colleagues think his supernatural theories are nothing more than cheap folklore. Determined to substantiate his beliefs, Ainsworth moves into Waldemar Gorobec’s mansion. Willing to sell his soul, Lord Alistair tries to summon the devil to acquire proof for his theses in return. Shortly after, a painting of Waldemar Gorobec starts talking to him, urging Ainsworth to fulfil his revenge on the families of those who set him up.
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