Preview: Yesterday Origins
Welcome to the first part of the GBAtemp series covering Microids' latest releases! We've been invited to their offices in Paris, France to give those games a good hard look and share with our members our impressions of them!
The first game we'll be talking of is Yesterday Origins. It is the follow-up/prequel of Yesterday, made by Pendulo Studios of Runaway fame. We’re shown a teaser, which looked pretty scary – but we’re reassured by the studios' members that the game itself won't actually be an horror title but an adventure game filled with dark humour. Phew!
Our story opens with the main character, John, suddenly finding himself gifted with immortality after a weird rite... Sounds cool, right? Except that, as is the norm with these sort of things, there is a caveat to his immortality - Every time John dies, he loses his memory (a la Nameless One of Planescape: Torment). That being the case, John sole objective becomes getting rid of his immortality.
He's helped in his quest by Pauline, his girlfriend, who's immortal as well... but with a small but significant difference: She too can die and return to life but can do so without losing her memories, which, in turn, will be pretty useful for John to solve the mystery of his own immortality!
Our hero's adventure begins at the time of the Spanish Inquisition – but, since the protagonist is an immortal, the player will be able to travel to many different locations in a wide range of time periods, including both present-day New York and Paris.
Yesterday Origins is the first chance for Pendulo Studios to work with next-gen consoles and 3D but, even if it may be a first for them, the results are still quite stunning: The game feels like an old-school click-and-point adventure even without having to resort to pixel art and low-res graphics which makes it feel quite refreshing compared to the onslaught of samey-same games we see nowadays.
We got to see the intro of the game which, while introducing the players to the story, highlights the gorgeous animations that the game sports. In it we found out that our protagonist, going by as "Miguel" at the time, is currently in jail because he shown the ability to understand every spoken language without being able to explain how or why he can do that. Obviously the Spanish Inqusition didn't take such a show of peculiar skills kindly and they're currently suspecting the poor Miguel of being nothing less than the son of the devil itself.
This first part of the game requires from the player a truly creative effort in order to let Miguel escape from jail. We'll just say that it will involve making use of an hog, some blood and a corpse with some poisonous toad added on top for good measure. We'll not say anything more in order to not spoil the game for anyone but you can expect it to be filled with black humour and funny situations!
Now let's talk a bit about the technical aspects of the game. It runs at a steady 60fps on PS4 and, even if the graphics are actually in 3D, they still look cartoony which in turn fits well with Pendulo Studios’ own art style (Just think of Runaway in 3D). The stylistic choice of keeping backgrounds in 2D seems to be a sound one and it actually lets you appreciate even more all the effort that went down in all the hand-drawn environments.
Even if the game isn't strictly point-and-click, it’s still deeply rooted in the tradition: You'll still need to talk with every NPC you see, check every nook and cranny of the environment and also make sure to examine every item carefully if you truly wish to proceed. The player is also given the option to switch between Johnny and Pauline at his leisure in certain sections and this game mechanic will actually be a critical element for solving certain puzzles.
Interaction with both items and other characters is accomplished through a comic book style window which also allows 360 degree rotation, pan and scan. You can check a scene by scrolling with the analog stick and examine points of interest by pressing the X button. Inventory is easily accessed with the R trigger and doing so will let you indulge in one of the typical staples of the genre: Item combining. You can also check your own character by pressing the L trigger - even if it sounds like a weird thing to do, it'll turn out to be useful in certain situations!
For what concerns dialogues, even if playing them requires simply choosing certain options amidst those presented by the game, the game actually considers the attitude and motivation of the parties involved. Every NPC has also got a little bit of text under their portrait, which will let you "justify" certain actions. There’s also a time limit on certain choices so you gotta think and act quickly or the effect springing from your actions on that NPC (or the enviroment itself) might and up disappearing, forcing you to repeat said action before you can be able to access that option again.
As a nice, added touch, the devs are also taking advantage of the PS4 controller's unique abilities in order to add to the atmosphere: the built-in speaker will produces sound in tune with the situation and the pad's LED light will change colour depending on the environment.
That is all for now. Thanks again to Microids for inviting GBAtemp to their offices!
Yesterday Origins will be out on 13th October on PC, Mac, PS4 and Xbox One.
Press Release
The first game we'll be talking of is Yesterday Origins. It is the follow-up/prequel of Yesterday, made by Pendulo Studios of Runaway fame. We’re shown a teaser, which looked pretty scary – but we’re reassured by the studios' members that the game itself won't actually be an horror title but an adventure game filled with dark humour. Phew!
Our story opens with the main character, John, suddenly finding himself gifted with immortality after a weird rite... Sounds cool, right? Except that, as is the norm with these sort of things, there is a caveat to his immortality - Every time John dies, he loses his memory (a la Nameless One of Planescape: Torment). That being the case, John sole objective becomes getting rid of his immortality.
He's helped in his quest by Pauline, his girlfriend, who's immortal as well... but with a small but significant difference: She too can die and return to life but can do so without losing her memories, which, in turn, will be pretty useful for John to solve the mystery of his own immortality!
Our hero's adventure begins at the time of the Spanish Inquisition – but, since the protagonist is an immortal, the player will be able to travel to many different locations in a wide range of time periods, including both present-day New York and Paris.
Yesterday Origins is the first chance for Pendulo Studios to work with next-gen consoles and 3D but, even if it may be a first for them, the results are still quite stunning: The game feels like an old-school click-and-point adventure even without having to resort to pixel art and low-res graphics which makes it feel quite refreshing compared to the onslaught of samey-same games we see nowadays.
We got to see the intro of the game which, while introducing the players to the story, highlights the gorgeous animations that the game sports. In it we found out that our protagonist, going by as "Miguel" at the time, is currently in jail because he shown the ability to understand every spoken language without being able to explain how or why he can do that. Obviously the Spanish Inqusition didn't take such a show of peculiar skills kindly and they're currently suspecting the poor Miguel of being nothing less than the son of the devil itself.
This first part of the game requires from the player a truly creative effort in order to let Miguel escape from jail. We'll just say that it will involve making use of an hog, some blood and a corpse with some poisonous toad added on top for good measure. We'll not say anything more in order to not spoil the game for anyone but you can expect it to be filled with black humour and funny situations!
Now let's talk a bit about the technical aspects of the game. It runs at a steady 60fps on PS4 and, even if the graphics are actually in 3D, they still look cartoony which in turn fits well with Pendulo Studios’ own art style (Just think of Runaway in 3D). The stylistic choice of keeping backgrounds in 2D seems to be a sound one and it actually lets you appreciate even more all the effort that went down in all the hand-drawn environments.
Even if the game isn't strictly point-and-click, it’s still deeply rooted in the tradition: You'll still need to talk with every NPC you see, check every nook and cranny of the environment and also make sure to examine every item carefully if you truly wish to proceed. The player is also given the option to switch between Johnny and Pauline at his leisure in certain sections and this game mechanic will actually be a critical element for solving certain puzzles.
Interaction with both items and other characters is accomplished through a comic book style window which also allows 360 degree rotation, pan and scan. You can check a scene by scrolling with the analog stick and examine points of interest by pressing the X button. Inventory is easily accessed with the R trigger and doing so will let you indulge in one of the typical staples of the genre: Item combining. You can also check your own character by pressing the L trigger - even if it sounds like a weird thing to do, it'll turn out to be useful in certain situations!
For what concerns dialogues, even if playing them requires simply choosing certain options amidst those presented by the game, the game actually considers the attitude and motivation of the parties involved. Every NPC has also got a little bit of text under their portrait, which will let you "justify" certain actions. There’s also a time limit on certain choices so you gotta think and act quickly or the effect springing from your actions on that NPC (or the enviroment itself) might and up disappearing, forcing you to repeat said action before you can be able to access that option again.
As a nice, added touch, the devs are also taking advantage of the PS4 controller's unique abilities in order to add to the atmosphere: the built-in speaker will produces sound in tune with the situation and the pad's LED light will change colour depending on the environment.
That is all for now. Thanks again to Microids for inviting GBAtemp to their offices!
Gamescom 2016 - Official Trailer
Yesterday Origins will be out on 13th October on PC, Mac, PS4 and Xbox One.
Press Release