Experience112

[Mel]

I just wanted to give a heads up on this adventure game (it's due to be released in France in mid October and elsewhere in Q1 2008).

It's a third person game but you don't play as the character you control (Lea Nichols). You control her using the equipment in the ship she's trapped in and you have to anticipate the possible dangers and try to gain her trust. Your character and the relationship to Lea will be revealed as the game goes on.

Here's the website (a new trailer was just released) and the game info (which has a link to an older preview from E3 2006).

[toblix]

That sounds pretty awesome. Hopefully it won't be an incomplete bug-ridden mess. The concept of indirectly controlling or aiding the main character has always fascinated me.

[Lama Himself]

This is the same studio who did In memoriam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Memoriam_%28video_game%29

It was a really good game and really original.

So I also wait to play Experience112.

The director of the game, Eric Viennot, work also on a Wii game with Paul Cuisset (Flashback!!!!).

[Tanukitsune]

Sounds interesting! It also looks kinda like a survival horror game, blended with Double Switch or Night Trap..

[toblix]

In Memoriam was pretty cool. I never finished it, for some reason, but the whole reality thing was pretty awesome.

[Wrestlevania]

I read about this in a magazine what seems like years ago, when the main character was male and trapped in some sort of abandoned research/testing facility. Changing the sex of the main character has little impact for me, but the radically different setting could provide greater intrigue.

I imagined that the player would be cast in the role of some sort of sentient AI--kind of like HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but helpful instead of malevolent.

I do recall reading that you could purposefully harm the protagonist though, should they get off track or become non-cooperative, which I really liked the idea of too. For example, one instance had the player overloading a keypad for a door they didn't want the character to go through, so when they tried to type in a code they got an electric shock.

The AI governing all that sounded extremely ambitious though...

[elmuerte]

hmm... I really need to start playing (new) games again

[Mel]

I imagined that the player would be cast in the role of some sort of sentient AI--kind of like HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but helpful instead of malevolent.

I'm not sure if it'll be a HAL type of thing. As you go through the game, the player's identity and relationship to the main character will be revealed. You also supposedly have to gain her trust. This is from the preview from quite a while ago:

As if these tasks weren't difficult enough, adding yet another layer of challenge to the game is Lea's independence. Although reliant on you to guide her, she does not know who you are, and since she has her own notions, attitudes, and fears, she will not blindly follow your lead. So you'll need to note her reactions, anticipate her decisions, and most importantly, earn and maintain her trust. Without that trust, she will be more reluctant to take your directions or provide information you need, and may even decide to act on her own accord. Obviously placing her in dangerous situations will be one way to jeopardize that trust, but according to Kemal, there will also be other ways. In one case, Lea will ask for privacy to change her clothes. Honour her request and she'll further believe in your integrity; get caught trying to sneak a peek and her faith in you will drop accordingly.

Not to be outdone by the puzzle and A.I. elements, however, Experience112 promises to have a strong narrative component as well. Your own identity is unknown both to yourself and to Lea at first, but as the game progresses, it will start to become evident through periodic flashbacks that you and Lea do indeed know each other. This creates two different questions for the player: what your relationship is with Lea, and why you have such "Big Brother" power over her environment. To flesh out these questions, the ship's Intranet comes heavily into play, as you'll gain access to classified files, emails, video logs and other documents dating back to the 1970s that give you clues to understanding your current situation. As an added bonus, the game will offer secondary missions through these files. Such missions will be entirely optional, but will afford greater insight into the world of Experience112.

[Nick]

Looks like a winner to me. As long as it develops well as it goes along I could see myself sinking into this with headphones on and lights off

[ThunderPeel2001]

Sounds like a brilliant idea! Sort of like playing SHODAN in System Shock.

This is really "second person" story telling - Interesting!