Brave, new world
Gamedec takes us into a cyberpunk universe processed in the mind of the writer (and now, also the devs from Anshar).
This is a world, where people live in two worlds – physical, and digital, or sensory. The former has changed a lot since the last time you looked outside the window. Warsaw City, the backdrop for all the events in the game, resembles a soaring forest crisscrossed with a network of streets suspended in the air. Anti-gravity cars, designed in a retro aesthetic, sweep through the city. The megalopolis is surrounded by a barrier that keeps animals out. The entire nature has apparently turned against men, and everything wants to kill us. Well, karma can be a bitch, and we've had it coming anyway.
The peaks of the city are bathed in prosperity and sunshine, which of course does not reach the lowest levels. The world is much more complex than the classic, cyberpunk Noir, and we'll get a full cross-section of different aesthetics. Everyone – the rich, the poor, and the "middle class" – have one thing in common. They can cross the frontier of reality.
Sensory worlds are basically very advanced VR sets that work for all of the human senses
. With the right technologies (a bed, a helmet that sends electromagnetic pulses to the brain, and a suit), the experience became indistinguishable from the reality. And every world is a different game. Some work like
Second Life, or simple browser games, while others take us for a review of video game genres. There will also be something for fans of dangerous, depraved, and not quite as moral entertainment. We are always looking at a complete immersion in the virtual world.
Profession: detective. Gaming detective
I've come to associate the profession of a detective with freedom, the ability to find out the truth. A detective is a person who has chosen the profession, usually at some interesting point in their life. It could have been a kind of reassessment, or just crisis.
Marcin Przybylek
It's a person who needs a large share of wisdom and intelligence. Why is a detective perfect for an RPG? Because they're prefect for the carte-blanche sort of scenario. He has a certain set of qualities, including personal, but he can be anyone.
Marcin Rybinski
This world needs a professional.
A Gamedec.
The gamedec, as Przybylek says, is the profession of choice for contemporary gamers. Gamedecs are not only really good in the virtual entertainment – they make good money off it. The work, contrary to what you might assume, isn't limited to simply fighting crime in sensory worlds. To earn money, Gamedecs also fulfill smaller orders from players. One of their jobs is, for example, completing difficult stages of the games that their employers have hard time finishing.
I have much in common with Sapkowski. ( ... ) In my opinion, the success of the Witcher was about the profession. It's just a very clever profession that opens up a lot of opportunities. Gamedec is also a great profession, which opens opportunities. It is set in a cool world, very carefully designed. ( ... ) Gamedecs enter the game either to play or to make money. Most often the latter. ( ... ) I realized that this is a person who lives on the edge. On the edge of reality. Once he enters the game, he realizes that although he's experiencing something fictional, the very experiences are real.
Marcin Przybylek
In the game from Anshar Studio, we sometimes do smaller gigs,
the mainstay are crime investigations. We will learn the story throughout the dozen or so chapters of the game. Each chapter is a case, in which we explore a chunk of the city and a new sensory world. Each of them holds a new mystery that needs to be solved, and everything is tied by the main thread. My hosts didn't want to reveal what the pivotal conflict of the intrigue will be, but we talked a lot about the general premises.
The first materials suggested that
Gamedec would focus on video-game-related issues, but that's only the first layer. Sure, the devs want to give us some funny easter eggs, laugh at some of the industry's fallacies, but it's all going to be rather relaxed. The gamedec will, most of all, face the evil that lurks inside peoples' hearts.
Gamedec will try to hit stronger notes,
show mature, complex issues, and the developers promise not to compromise. And we have to get to the bottom of things. We can do this if we are vigilant, attentive, and accurate. We learn the details of every crime that ties the physical and virtual reality.
Investigation is the easy part of the job. Because then
we have to decide what to do with this truth. In the end, along with the facts, we also learn the motives of the criminals, the history – usually ambiguous – of the victims, and suddenly it turns out that nothing is black and white. On the way to the target, we also often stand at a fork. In fact, Gamedec is a game about choices. This aspect was the focus of the developers.
The way of the detective
The idea with
Gamedec is that each decision has proper weight and consequences. At the same time, however, devs try to avoid simple divisions. The balance of gains and losses of our choices will not be symmetrical, but none of them will prevent us from progressing in the game. It may prohibit reaching some particular branches of the story, but it might just as well open up a new one.
If we do not help someone at some point, this person may complicate our work – seems logical enough. Everything depends on us, and the game will follow our decisions (the term "adaptive RPG" obliges).
We want to achieve such an effect. Friends meet for a beer and talk about Gamedec. One tells the other how he solved the case, and the other says "I think we played different games, because I did something totally different..."
Marcin Rybinski
We make choices in several ways, mostly through dialogs and a deduction system – both related to character development, and sometimes to the order in which we visit subsequent locations. As I was going through the already revealed chapter,
Harvest Time, I was wandering aimlessly through a western land, and accidentally came across a key NPC. As Marcin Rybinski said, I could lure that character in different ways, and hence obtain more complete information. I love the fact that the environment was harnessed for purposes of storytelling as well.
As for the mentioned mechanics, let's start with the dialogues. They say in the beginning was the word, so I think it's a good choice. Originally the game used the classic solution: full statements visible immediately in the dialog window. Like in
Pillars of Eternity or the good old
Baldur's. But
Gamedec will struggle for the attention of a modern audience, so some changes we inevitable, and the conversations will resemble those from
Deus Ex: Human Revolution. We will get a round menu with short versions of what the hero can say.
To avoid the same pitfall that Mass Effect and Fallout 4 have fallen into, hovering the cursor over the given dialog option will reveal the full statement. Simple, compact – I think it will work great.
Conversations and choices in general were merged with the character development system. You won't find any numbers there, oddly enough. We don't need them, because the game features neither typical combat, nor any kind of number-based tests.
We shape our hero using the specializations we choose. The menu looks like a neuron network – Przybylek says he likes the comparison. Talents (or 'Aspects') were grouped within several branches. Some of them promote conflict and violence, while others allow for deeper intervention in technology or interaction with people. Then, the paths are branching out again – to make our character as specialized as possible. We can try to go in all directions, but then we won't reach higher skill levels, or specialize in just a few areas. There will be quite a few combinations and there will be enough for several completely different gameplay variants.
To quote the other Martin. You see, in an adventure game, the player must guess the devs' intentions. (...) In an RPG, it's the game that guesses the player's intentions.
Marcin Przybylek
The specializations open very specific possibilities in the story, while the tree is expanded with the choices we make. This approach is supported by the above-mentioned system of investigation (something similar was used in adventure games about Sherlock Holmes), which ties subsequent chapters together. In a special window, we open the evidence map.
When we collect as many as we deem necessary, we decide on the final conclusions. On their basis, we specify the perpetrators, and then decide what to do with those we find guilty. At the same time, this opens up unique options for dialogue.
These three aspects are combined into a dynamic and very complex dependency grid.
All that to ensure players will get an experience as close as possible to a session with a table-top RPG. Many employees of Anshar are fans of traditional RPGs. Martin Rybinski told me that each chapter of
Gamedeca is first tested as an analog RPG session in different groups, so that the devs can see what works and what doesn't.
This is very important to us. We want Gamedec to really feel like a table-top. Like sitting with a group of friends, having someone conduct the game, and just making free choices, having full autonomy. And what is the most important and interesting thing in an RPG? Choices, interactions. The simple fact that you can get lost, solve problems. This leads to situations that are interesting and memorable. We have confrontations, but we build them with storytelling.
Marcin Rybinski
At the same time,
we do not play as the hero from the books, but as a gamedec created by ourselves, whom we can extensively personalize both before we begin the game and as we play.
History of violence
I looked at it this way: How would I feel if someone wanted to make an RPG with combat? I would have had to come up with situations when there is no other solution than force.
Marcin Przybylek
However, focusing on dialogue, deduction, and choice does not mean we always avoid violence. Only the creators approach it as something special, something that influences the character's psyche. It should be something that we will not just be able to shrug off; a difficult choice dictated by what we consider necessary, rather than a joyous mowing down of dozens of enemies. Therefore,
the designers decided to depict violence in animated scenes. From what I saw in the trailer (I didn't see it in the game) – this is done within dialog selection. Anshar, however, considers implementing a separate system of confrontations, but that's about the only thing I'm allowed to say.
The player will also sometimes "see" something violent happening nearby – it will be possible to take action in such a case.
Gamedec will give you a hard time, the creators are already showing they're not taking any prisoners – and the intertwining of two planes of reality gives them an extra field to tackle mature topics. I hope they won't be short of ideas.
Gamedec won't be about just talking to people and collecting evidence. The creators are well aware that then the players would be killed by the monotony, regardless of how well-written it would be.
They try to diversify the gameplay with various interactions with the environment and non-invasive arcade stages. I had the opportunity to collect some hay in
Harvest Time, a farming RPG game, and play other activities specific to F2P games (for example, facing a paywall and having to collect enough money). Then, there was a sneaking stage. I had to avoid being spotted, and distracted guards with different noises. Simple, intuitive. It works.
There should be more of these diversions. Rybinski admitted with a laugh that at first, he'd thought that the game would be easier to produce without the combat system, because there would be no formulas, comprehensive inventory systems, and balancing issues, but then it turned out that compensating for it isn't very easy. Well, the toys I've already seen do work. They fit well into the narrative and the tone. We'll learn about the rest when the game comes out.
SAVING SYSTEM
At this point, we can save the game at any time. However, Rybinski is considering introducing a hardcore mode, called
True Detective, where saving would only be possible between subsequent cases – or even more hardcore, having only the auto save. Just to make sure you feel the gravity of your decisions.
Contracts
Working on such a project is like playing Hitman – a single mistake and you're done for.
Gamedec makes bold decisions. This is an ambitious project where a lot can go wrong. All those interactions with the environment can be a misfire, the plot may fail our expectations. Even if everything works out, the game may just fall short of convincing a larger group of players. Many RPG fans appreciate aspects like fighting and power – it's fun to collect all these powerful swords and weapons. Who will come to Anshar, if these aspects are missing? I know the game is aimed at mature players, but is that enough? Well, concerns are only natural.
On the other hand, I walked around the studio and talked the people. I saw they were dedicated and involved, convinced that what they're working on was at least intriguing, perhaps even unique. The demo I was able to try also speaks in favor of
Gamedec.
I saw a very pleasant game, an engaging story, and well-written dialogs. If this is not enough – the game also looks really good. It runs on Unreal Engine 4, but the strength lies in the very consistent aesthetic designs of locations, characters, and cars. The world is credible, really reminiscent of Netflix's
Altered Carbon, and riveting.
And the risks? Well... There's no doubt that cyberpunk is becoming fashionable again. The hyped players will be looking for different takes on these aesthetics. Gamedec promises to be more than just another RPG capitalizing on nostalgia.
There's a good chance that you've just read an article about a game that, together with Disco Elysium,
will push the genre in a new, fascinating direction.
![Matt [Anshar Studios]](/forums/data/avatars/m/26/26823.jpg?1565270988){kind=avatar}
![Jakub [Anshar Studios]](/forums/data/avatars/m/26/26824.jpg?1565272503){kind=avatar}
Like three weeks before the official release 
