My first ever interview at E3 was sitting down with indie German developer Daedalic Entertainment. I was taken through a demo of ‘The Devil’s Men’, a steam punk puzzler where you try to uncover the mystery of a spree of murders of scientists who have been dubbed, you guessed it, ‘The Devil’s Men’. You play as Adelaide Spektor, a resourceful young woman, whose detective father vanished many years ago, leaving her to fend for herself. When she witnesses the murder of one of her father’s old friends, Adelaide takes it upon herself to solve the mystery and find her father with the reluctant help of murderer and thief, Emily.
What really stood out to me about Devil’s Men was how in-depth the decision making was. While still a point and click at its core, how you choose to play your game directly affects it outcome, a formula we’ve seen put to great use by Telltale Games over recent years. When trying to break in somewhere, for instance, you can choose to spend time and dig around until you find a key or pick the lock properly, or you can just break the lock and get in that way. However, breaking the lock leaves evidence and will affect a scene down the line. The staffer at Daedalic told me that in some places there will be as many five different ways to solve a puzzle, all with different outcomes, though some won’t take effect until the end of the game! I pretty much thought it was a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’, but I don’t get to keep my finger in as a bookmark.
I also really liked how it looked. It had a handpainted look to it with 2D characters but the world they occupied was much more three dimensional. Walking from room to room, for example, had the camera moving through walls as you passed through doors. It looked really nice!
The other game Daedalic showed me that employed the same art style was the follow up to their successful ‘Silence – The Whispered World’ which we covered the special edition of recently right here. Noah is back, this time with his sister, as war drives them into an isolated bunker where they slip back into The Whispered World. Except this time, it’s his sister Renie who is in control. With returning characters and a lot of new features, The Whispered World 2 promises to be just as story driven as the first, with a lot of heart and humour.
Both games are slated for early 2015 and both show promise! Keep your eyes peeled here for more updates.
