Posted by Martin Watts on Friday, September 30, 2011 ? 3 Comments?
There?s A Dystopian Future In-Store for Smart?phones and Tablets
It?s slightly unset?tling that most media and lit?er?a?ture that deal with the end of the world are so fas?ci?nat?ing. There?s just some?thing inex?plic?a?ble about our demise, whether it?s at the hand of Mar?tians in H.G. Wells? War of Worlds or more local causes, such as nature in the likes of The Day After Tomor?row or 2012, that draws us in. Pop?u?lar media has cov?ered our own down?fall so often it?s as if some?one knows some?thing we?don?t.
How?ever, it?s not just the largest and most far-reaching media that are eager to cover these Rag?narokian themes. Dan?ish indie devel?oper, House on Fire has been work?ing on its own take on the end of the world with The Silent Age. And from what we?ve seen, it?s look?ing (wor?ry?ingly?) good.
The Silent Age is a min?i?mal?is?tic 2D point-and-click adven?ture game that cen?tres itself around the idea of time travel. Set in 1972, the player takes con?trol of Joe, a guy who?well?is pretty aver?age.? One day, Joe?s mediocre liveli?hood as a build?ing atten?dant sud?denly changes, when a dying man con?fronts him and tells him of a ter?ri?ble fate the world is about to meet.? As the man dies, he hands Joe a portable time machine, which Joe must use to travel back and forth over a 40-year period to work out what hap?pened and, more?over, how he can stop?it.
The premise for The Silent Age evokes that of some?thing like The Leg?end of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Remem?ber how Link had to travel between both the nor?mal and Dark World in order to com?plete his quest? In The Silent Age, when Joe trav?els in time, he appears 40 years later (or ear?lier) in exactly the same place he was stand?ing.? As a result, play?ers must exam?ine both the aspects of present day and dystopian future in order to search for clues and work out what has occurred dur?ing those four decades of extinction.
The Silent Age?s art style is very rem?i?nis?cent of ear?lier 2D adven?ture titles such as Flash?back and Another World. While it may be sim?plis?tic, it does a great job of empha?sis?ing the dif?fer?ence between present and past. Joe?s life in 1972 is fairly aver?age, and the fairly stan?dard visual rep?re?sen?ta?tion that the game gives of this actu?ally rein?forces this notion. It?s artis?tic with?out try?ing to be.? At the same time, the vis?tas of the future evoke the whole dystopian set?ting per?fectly; just sim?ple things like leaves look?ing with?ered and over?grown grass por?tray how time has moved on with?out humans.
House on Fire is cur?rently work?ing very hard on the game and expect it to release some?time in Q1, 2012. The com?pany itself was founded in Jan?u?ary 2011 by Linda Ran?dazzo, Uni Dahl and Thomas Ryder.? The team intend to release the game for mobile devices, in par?tic?u?lar, iOS and Android smart?phones and tablets.? The cur?rently planned price for the game is set at?$0.99.
If you?re eager to learn more about the game, visit The Silent Age?s blog, and fol?low both House on Fire?s Twit?ter and Face?book pages.? Bits ?n? Bytes Gam?ing will, of course, keep you up to date on any and all news related to The Silent Age.
Let?s just hope the world doesn?t end before we get to play?it!
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Source: http://bnbgaming.com/2011/09/30/first-look-the-silent-age/
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