We've spent the summer heat working hard through new features and building out Freedom Town. Now we have a new goal in front of us: we'll be showcasing a new demo at PAX West, coming up September 1-4th. PAX West last year was the first time we showed the game publicly, and this year we'll have a more prominent space at the show, but can't reveal where just yet. (Shhhh... secrets.) Look for an update from us as soon as we have it. And if you can't make PAX, we'll definitely be posting some footage from that new demo as soon as we are able.
Also, we've continued working on our FAQ for some of the most common questions - in our last post we talked about how we're working on a release date but don't have one just yet. Here's another one that comes up a fair amount:
"How re-playable is the game and how many storylines are possible?"
This is a good question, and I always try to be clear about it. The game has procedural content elements to it, but at the same time it's not as procedural as some full-on procgen games. It's not as procedural as, say, the original Rogue. Most of the physical space of Freedom Town stays relatively the same each game, but where you start the game, where your objectives are, and all the gameplay elements are shuffled around each time. And the story changes. The dogma and beliefs of the Collective Justice Mission stay similar on a surface level, but the ultimate motivations of Preachers Isaac & Rebecca Walker will change. And naturally saying exactly how all the systems work would be a spoiler, so I'm treading carefully there.
So how repayable will the game be? I think someone who plays it once or twice will have a fun experience, but won't be seeing the whole story. To see a more complete story, you'd need to finish it at least four times, and to see all the content many more times than that. If you're someone who is a completionist, wants to get all the achievements and find all the side story content, you're going to be playing more like 8-10 times at a minimum. And then we've got difficulty levels for those who really want to push themselves.
Hope that informs you but also keeps you intrigued. Until next time,
- Richard