Moral combat
“Aw man, I didn’t see that ending! Now I have to play the game all over again.”
I’ve said those lines more often than I care to admit, mostly because certain games **ahem Chrono Trigger ahem** ask us to replay whole games or whole sections of games just to see another ending variation. Triple-I Games takes the idea of those changes and pulls them throughout the entire experience of their upcoming project, Hindsight 20/20.
At first glance, 20/20 looks like a nicely animated 3D action game, but that is only just a part of the experience. The game offers players a few ways to take out enemies in combat: Ruthless, in which we go all out for the kill, or Merciless, which tasks us with stunning them instead. Depending on what we choose, enemies react differently, with either more or less aggression. Outside of battle, players interact with NPCs with what the developers describe as moral-based choices, depending on the situation. Do you defeat or forgive a man who did your family harm? Do you push for personal power, or share your wealth? Do you fight for the people, or against them? The decisions lead to changing interactions and plot points, cascading all the way up to even Bosses reacting differently based on what is said or done earlier.
The hook comes in where the game allows players to revisit those choices in subsequent playthroughs to make minor tweaks and adjustments, like watching Bill Murray tweak and adjust his reactions in Groundhog’s Day for the best outcomes. Playing a game that borrows that idea could definitely be interesting to check out.
Hindsight 20/20 arrives on PC, Switch, PS4, PS5 and Xbox platforms in Q2 of 2021.
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