LudoNarracon 2020
These days most conferences that are going ahead are going digital. But before the Covid-19 virus ran rampant around the world and caused us all the way to change the way we live, another conference was already going digital. That conference is LudoNarracon, a digital festival celebrating narrative games. Hosted on Steam according to the organisers, This is, according to the official site “an initiative of indie label Fellow Traveller, it aims to create a platform to showcase and celebrate interesting and innovative narrative games, replicating as many of the aspects and benefits of the physical convention experience as possible within a digital format.”
This year they had a number of panels with many interesting discussions featuring amongst others Brian Moriarty and Steve Meretsky. Unfortunately those panels are now finished but they will be uploaded here as soon as they are available on Youtube. You can check out last year’s panels here. In the meantime, there are over 40 publishers and developers streaming their games on their Steam pages and there are also a number of demos available all of which will be available until Friday May 1st 2020. Some of these games have already been released and some have been reviewed on the podcast. Therefore on this page I will focus on the games that we have not yet covered or played. You can find a full list of exhibitors, sales and demos here.
Suzerain
Ever wanted to be leader of your country? Think you can do better than <insert leader here> in <insert country here>? Well now you can see if you have what it takes to lead your country in Suzerain. You play as newly elected President Rayne as you lead the country of Sordland in any way you see fit. Do you become a champion of the working class or will you support the 1%? Will you meet with the CEO of the largest media empire in the country or will you refuse and face his wrath? Will you have a independent media or will you try and control them? And how will you tackle immigration? These are just some of the issues you will need to deal with in this choice driven politics sim. This was one of the most interesting demos I tried and I’m intrigued to know if I can survive a full term. Full game to be released in the summer of 2020 or when all votes have been counted.
Wayward Strand
In this charming game you play as a teenager named Casey Beaumaris who has been asked to help out in an airborne hospital in 1970’s Australia. The full game takes place over three days but the demo takes you through the first morning as you get to know the patients and listen to their stories. You play in real time as all the characters live out their own lives, visit each other, have coffee and wonder around the ship without input from the player so there’s plenty of replayability here. You also take your notebook as you investigate the history of the ship and reveal what secrets it may be hiding. With some beautiful Ghibliesque graphics this looks like it could be a hit. I had a fantastic time playing this demo and I look forward to finding out the ship’s secrets and finding out more about the patients when the game is released later in 2020.
chinatown detective agency
Set in Singapore 2031, you play as detective Armina Darma in this game inspired by “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego”. Early on you are called to investigate a case which involves chasing leads, collecting evidence, questioning suspects and even doing real world research (AKA Googling). You also do some hacking puzzles to get into some locations and you get help from a friendly librarian where you have to resolve a cryptic message. Unfortunately it’s not possible to go back when you are in a puzzle which felt a little restrictive but there is still plenty of time to fix this. The rest of the interface is intuitive and with some pretty good voice acting this looks like it could be a winner. After just being funded on Kickstarter the developers are hoping to have this game released by early 2021.
Coffee Talk
Set in an alternative fantasy inspired Seattle, you play as a late night barista as you listen to customers talk about issues which strongly echo real world issues, such as an interracial couple trying to get their families on their side and a struggling writer who needs inspiration. This game has some beautiful anime inspired graphics and some nice jazzy music to go along with it. The main gameplay features brewing different types of coffee depending on the ingredients you have as you try to give the custoemrs the exact beverage they want (or as close as possible). It would be nice to have some choices in the dialogue and to do more than clicking through the dialogues but the characters were interesting and the demo kept my interest throughout and ended on a cliffhanger so I’m intrigued to find out more. You can check out the full game which is out now on Steam.
Wide Ocean Big JackeT
In this camping story, which could be described as Firewatch with old people, you follow two wardens who are getting on in years as they go from camp to camp to pick up trash. While you carry out your duties the two characters also reminisce about their lives and have some quite prescient conversations about growing old. You also help some teenagers look for their phone during the demo. The graphics may be minimalist but they have a certain charm and thankfully there is no pixel hunting as the objects are easy to find. In the full game you will play as a full family as they go on a camping trip but the demo gives a nice taste of what to expect. If you are looking for an exciting fast paced story where you need to save the world this game is not for you. But if you want a calming, relaxing story with normal people doing normal activities then this game seems to be the perfect fit. The full game is out now on Steam and is 50% off until May 2nd 2020.
Solace State
In this stylish 3d visual novel you play as a hacker named Chloe in a desperate search for her friend in this sci-fi setting. In the demo, you team up with another hacker named Torrent as you try and break up a demonstration. The characters also have special abilities and Chloe is able to hack into people to find out about their past and thoughts while Torrent is able to fully disguise himself as other people. Here you hack into a violent soldier as Torrent disguises himself as the leader of the riot police. You and Torrent work together to try to disarm him and help the people in the protest. To complicate matters however, Torrent’s brother is also at the protest heading straight towards Torrent believing him to be the leader of the riot police. You will have to make a choice: do you help Torrent disarm the soldier or do you stop his brother from attacking him? The game is fast moving and the dialogue appears on a dynamic screen as it changes after every paragraph which helps the story to move forward more quickly. The demo piqued my interest and I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on it. There is no official release date at this time but it will be released when we’re a united front. So until then we need to make do with this demo until May 1st 2020.
Paradise Killer
Lady Love Dies has been called from exile to investigate a murder of the council on an island. You will need to bring all your detective skills with you in order to find the culprit but you need to make sure you accuse the right one! This is another stylish open world detective game with gorgeous graphics and a slightly weird, complex story involving resurrecting dead alien gods. The demo is longer than most other demos at the conference as you explore the island, interrogate other characters and gather evidence to find the killer. Hopefully the full story will be easier to follow but if the game can live up to its initial promise then it’s certainly a game to look out for when it’s released later in 2020.