Bigben Interactive presented itself at this E3 2019 with a really rich and interesting line-up. We had the opportunity to participate in some exclusive gameplay sessions, with the comment of the developers, of three games: The Sinking City, Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood e Paranoia. These are three completely different games, which have allowed us to appreciate their peculiarities.
The Sinking City
In the trilogy examined: Sinking city, Werewolf, Paranoia, the first title we tried is The Sinking City, title set in the 20s in a fictional Massachusetts fishing town named Oakmont and inspired by the work of HP Lovecraft. The story behind the city of Oakmont hides a past as a citizen practicing the occult. Our protagonist, Charles W. Reed is a former US Navy marine, veteran of the First World War who after finishing his service decides to become an investigator, in search of the cause of all the nightmares that haunt him and make him see things that they go beyond the paranormal. The demo we tried was set in an advanced stage of the game, so we couldn't delve too deeply into the plot, limiting ourselves to analyzing the gameplay of The Sinking City in detail.
As the developer explained to us, the plot of The Sinking city will not be linear like in other games, so we will not have a main mission to follow, but we will have the entire map available to collect clues and continue in the story that of real investigators. For timing reasons, of course, the undertaking was facilitated for us, allowing us to immediately reach a point of interest, where we immediately notice something strange, monstrous creatures emerge from the ground and try to kill us. We obviously defend ourselves and kill them and at this point we are explained that these visions can drive our character crazy, making him see increasingly unusual things, which can be decidedly dangerous.
At this point we enter a building where we notice a crime scene on which we must investigate, then we collect all the evidence and with our investigative skills we begin to reconstruct the facts, analyzing evidence and possibly interrogating witnesses. This phase seemed very interesting to us, especially as regards the clues, which are not ends in themselves but rather allow us to know new details about the plot and therefore unlock new paths and then continue with the story.
In addition to the investigation we will also have an item wheel that allows us to choose various weapons with which to defend ourselves, grenades, medical kits and various objects. From this point of view we were not too convinced, in fact the combat phases work badly, the animations are woody and generally are not as satisfying as it might seem. We are still confident in the game, especially from the point of view of the investigation, even if for now we are a bit disappointed by what we have seen, perhaps due to too high expectations.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood
Developed by Cyanide, Werewolf: The Apocalypse Earthblood is a title set in the world of World of Darkness and inspired by Whitewolf Publishing publications. In the game we will play the role of Cahal, an eco-terrorist banished from his werewolf clan and who fights against a corporation that is causing heavy pollution in his land.
The peculiarity of this game lies in the fact that our character can take three different forms: human, wolf and werewolf. The human form will be used to interact with NPCs, accept missions and so on, the wolf form will instead be used for explorations, in the stealth phases and to sneak in small passages, while obviously the werewolf form we will choose for the fighting.
Werewolf is set in the west of America, and during the game we will have several limited areas that we can explore freely, making the game what is called a open-area and therefore not a real open-world. From what little we have been able to see, the gameplay is still in its infancy, although the combat phases with the werewolf seemed really interesting to us. One element on which the team seems to be focusing a lot is the anger, that is a parameter that tends to grow by doing actions such as killing people, approaching polluted areas, etc. This level of anger can be used in combat to do additional damage but must be kept as low as possible during normal situations to avoid losing patience with some NPCs. In general, the title seemed very interesting to us, but we have to wait for the release of some additional information to be able to give an answer to all interested parties.
Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory
In the triptych Sinking city, Werewolf, Paranoia, therefore only the last one remains to be analyzed: inspired by the role-playing game of the same name released in the 80s, Paranoia transports us to a despotic world governed by an artificial intelligence called "The Computer". Paranio's original work was inspired by authors such as Kafka and Orwell for the realization of this work, which obviously also the game seems to draw on. From the very first minutes it seems to be in George Orwell's 1984, with this eye on the top of the screen that follows our every move. Paranoia is a point and click with an isometric view that puts us in the shoes of the inhabitants of the Alpha complex, a structure entirely managed by this AI.
The Alpha complex is organized in different levels, each of which is characterized by a color, which will then be the same as the uniforms worn by the people authorized to stay in that area.
If we go to an area that is forbidden to us, we see how the “betrayal” indicator tends to increase, forcing us to decrease it by confessing directly to the AI so as to be forgiven (perhaps). If we reach 100% of the betrayal, the AI will kindly ask us to commit suicide, and we can obviously do it since the death of one of our characters will be replaced immediately with a clone of his, for a maximum of five times. As the game's subtitle says, happiness is a must in the Alpha overall, so we'll have to go to great lengths to keep it high.
At the end of the demo we also saw a combat phase, similar in some ways to what we saw in Mutant Year Zero: Road to Even, in which we can stop time at any time to decide where to move our characters and possibly which enemies to attack. The most interesting thing about Paranoia is perhaps the plot, which seemed to us original and well integrated with the gameplay, certainly less banal than it may seem. We were pleasantly satisfied with this title and we can't wait to be able to try it in the review.
The Bigben Interactive line-up seemed very varied to us and among the three titles we tried we could see some very original ideas. The Sinking City, an investigative title, puts us in the shoes of a marine who is looking for the reason for his nightmares, an undoubtedly interesting plot but for now the execution did not seem brilliant. Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood is instead a title that puts us in the shoes of a terrorist echo who has the possibility of transforming himself into a werewolf; development is still incomplete but what we have seen so far certainly seemed promising. The last title tried is Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory, a title with a despotic setting that catapults us into a world reminiscent of G. Horwell's 1984 work.
