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!

MICROI_DS_GREEN.png

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!

YO - logo.png

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!

Prison.jpgJohn_Guardian.pngPauline Shop.JPG Paris.JPG

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.

:arrow: Press Release
 

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Cool and all, but is this recycling old news stories or did something change?
 

Scarlet

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Uh, by "recycling", do you mean this separate thread? He was invited to a press event, so there were multiple related meetings he went to.
I'd assume they mean the fact it's only just been frontpage'd but was posted September 25th.

Anyway, the game looks interesting if nothing else, might have to check it out :3
 

Sonic Angel Knight

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Probably the same reason GBAtemp got to go to E3
You got to got to e3, i was at home eating doritos looking at your pictures and wondering when sonic news was coming, sadly it was at the san deigo comic con not e3 so i was cheering for persona news instead cause that was your main focus. :creep:

Also i got the extra spicy kind and ranch, i couldn't find the nacho cheese flavor, and i like your badge. I wish i had one. :)

next up, is umm.... anime convention i guess? I dunno, what's the scheduel look like? :unsure:
 

Cyan

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Awesome! What are their offices like?
Any love for PC, or is it PS4-centric over there? (I hope not given it's up for pre-order on Steam!)
Yesterday Origins will be out on 13th October on PC, Mac, PS4 and Xbox One.
it's multi platform, and PC version will be available.

I'd assume they mean the fact it's only just been frontpage'd but was posted September 25th.
He started writing all the Microïds' game articles the same day, and will post them at different time. It needs time to write them :)
seeing the release date for this game, I suppose it was completed just in time.
it's like the game review part of the site, users can start writing them and make them public at a later date. (if it's what VinLark meant).

I don't know this game. Should we play the first one before playing Origin?

Microïds was very kind to invite us, and Raulpica knows and played all these games, and also speak french, so he was the perfect candidate !
I'm also curious about their studio and your impression on this occasion in Paris with the developers. Maybe you'll let us know on your last article?
 

raulpica

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I'm also curious about their studio and your impression on this occasion in Paris with the developers. Maybe you'll let us know on your last article?
Yup, they also gave us a tour of their office - I'll include details in the next article since they showed us some juicy bits... ;)
 
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Frederica Bernkastel

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I'm sure pc is very common now and days, that is proably there and supported. :)
Besides is a office, a office with no pc support is crazy O_O
it's multi platform, and PC version will be available.
Sorry I should clarify - I wasn't referring to whether or not they'll support PC, I can read! I meant to ask: There are several references to the PS4, and more specifically to making use of PS4 features; Will we be seeing preferential treatment towards and enhanced functionality in the PS4 version, or can we expect to see fun features in the PC edition too? (Thinking VR foremost).
If not for this, how about for any other titles they might be working on?
 
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