Now Playing: Inherit The Earth

Quick story time! Long ago I wanted to try something a little new with my writing. I've always loved culture, symbolism, and I've always loved gothic medieval tones/themes where you have war, religion, and politics. So why not combine them? Fantasy would be ideal in setting as you could have fictional races formed as tribes based on varied cultures and beliefs, and they naturally don't get along with each other putting the world under a tense and fragile state of conflict. However as we all know most fantasy tales just took place with random hero, random quest, and at best some monster for him/her to slay. Its a tried and true but kind of tired formula but almost the only one commonly used and it misses the potential of building up a world that would be so perfect for the kind of story I wanted. So I decided to set this sort of thing up with a story called Wolf Pack. It took place around a fictional world where humans were replaced with more humanized versions of animals to distinguish the tribes. This was perfect as it was easier to understand symbolism (If you made a cat race seem somewhat lazy yet mischievous for example, it was easily relatable to house cats), and you could also form or break relations based on how animals are categorized or compete with each other in the wild. Unfortunately my story crumbled under my own clumsy writing, and I didn't feel like the story was going to truly go anywhere good because its plot was more based on action and dialogue of a society rather than that of a plot arc to resolve something. However the good news is that the story's integrity and idea was never lost in the first place. Well for starters, there's the modern Lego Chima series for kids that sort of runs with the same idea... I think. Secondly, there was something already in place before I was even born (although its shocking close to the date, kind of spooky) doing a very similar concept, only better... and animated... and a video game. Its name was...

Oh and you play as a fox.... sometimes the world just gets things right

Alright so yeah sorry for the delay to the subject, but I feel it was worth mentioning because that really does tie into a part of the appeal of the game for me. Its just one of those games that feels slightly personal in a weird way. I've had my eye on it for a while, but I've only just recently got it off of GOG.com (along with the hilariously clumsy but fun Two Worlds). I had to try it before I buy it though, because the one and only major issue to keep me well away was its genre (point and click). Sure I guess I can see why a point and click was right for such a story and character driven game, especially of its era, but I just never got around to liking them beyond those pre-school games I played when I was little. They have archaic puzzles, unusual logic, and a style of control that will usually keep you away from ever being immersed. However with ITE thankfully it seems the last one is its only real lingering problem, at least based off what I read of reviews and tried off an old demo. So far, the main game shows to be playable for me... but the mouse movement is still annoying.

Now outside of those 3 problems I don't have an issue with these games. Actually I envy the audience that loves them, because I absolutely adore some of the creative minds, settings, and plots driving many of them and sometimes all I want out of a game is a longer better story than I commonly find in movies. So I'm glad to have found one of the few that both interest me, and stray from most of the ugly conventions. Although I did have to look up at a guide once, but honestly I think some of my own ignorance was to blame for not knowing much about what Plaster is (I know it to go on buildings, but didn't know what it looked like bagged up). Supposedly this game replaces dumb puzzles with mazes, and I'm kind of okay with that. I guess that's kind of weird because its harder to solve those if I'm truly stuck, but I think I'm okay with it because its more of a true and legit challenge rather than "Oh here, have a random math/match/slide puzzle that makes no sense here". Of course I mean no harm to the genre, I get that some people like that kind of thing and I'm even making a post defending contrived nonsense (with some limits of course), but its not for me in the way that normal point & click stuff does it. So I'm glad they left ITE out of that mess, or at least kept it down.

It unfortunately shows its age

So anyways how is the game itself so far (as opposed to nagging its genre)? Well honestly that's all up to whether or not you like the plot. If the idea I presented before interests you, well this game does it right and even better. You have a light hearted adventure with some dark implications setting the tone. You play as a fox named Rif who is accused of stealing a powerful gadget referred to as The Orb. So far I only know that it tells the weather, but the characters still make a big deal of it and its been kept safely under wraps for the longest time. Now in order to save yourself, and keep the boars and elk from some potential hostilities, you've got to solve the mystery and return the orb, with the help of an elk and boar friend assigned from each of the bigger armies to make sure you do this right. The game is set in a world where the characters you are dealing with are animals who have formed into medieval fantasy type tribes, and live odd lives related to their surroundings and tribal status. However this isn't actually some alternate medieval setting, its actually science fiction that is so far ahead the science kind of died down. Humans existed, but they either left or offed themselves in some way, and The orb is supposedly one of the things they left behind. This is where the game's namesake comes from (animals inherited the earth from humanity), as well as some the compelling mystery. I haven't gotten too deep to know much about the human plot for sure. What I have seen so far is a lot of good humor, quirky writing, and some clever ideas implemented, and it feels like a good cross between a Disney movie and a mystery game.

The plot mentioned above is what is supposed to compel you in these kind of games. Gameplay wise though it is slightly deeper than what I'm used to. Instead of just clicking blindly and screwing with the inventory, inventory seems limited to 8 things and there's another bar piece reserved for multiple actions. Although it doesn't go wild with things, you can at least do more than click on a guy for the same line. For example, your boar friend Okk can either be spoken to directly for his opinion on something, or you can "look" at him to get a funny comment. Again it ain't much, but these small verbal choices you can try on the world keep you engaged beyond click spamming (though that sadly describes walking, but I'm digressing). Still its the story that'll keep you going as that's the reason you're clicking on anything to begin with. Meanwhile the maze and light thinking bits I've seen so far are ok and handle well, but they're nothing to really write about. Its the success of getting new dialogue, or that first step into a new area, that keeps me smiling and playing as I uncover more of the plot.

Unfortunately the game has had a troubled development and doesn't come out with a happy ending. Thanks to the publishers being the kind of generalizing idiots that insist animals = kiddie the game was dumbed down in its original ideas, and doesn't extend to use tribalism as much as they probably wanted it to. Also supposedly one of the restrictions that followed was that nobody can die, because... kids apparently can't know that being on the brink of a multi-clan war may be dangerous. We're not talking Lego Chima levels of kiddie, but its still integrity breaking. On a related note, the game didn't do well enough to earn its sequel and the series has sort of died on a cliffhanger... sort of. There's a slim chance it may see some kind of crowd funded sequel, but if that doesn't work there is at least a web comic that has given us some story of the aftermath.

Okay I feel like I've written and researched the game more than I've played it. Its time to get back into it though, and I'm excited to see through this adventure. I'm looking forward to the next chance to hilariously trick guards, and close up more of the mystery. So far though, its been fun and I'm glad not to only have seen a weird sort of concept I wanted created, but to also be playing a point & click game I can actually enjoy once again. By contrast I've also grabbed Tormentum's demo off steam, and I can already tell the gameplay for that will be more terrifying than its grotesque art style, but oh well. I got ITE to thank for a good one before I run off and try another bad one.