In Puckoff: Reloaded, Hockey Is About More Than Scoring Goals

What occurs when 5 Finnish builders take the hockey they grew up taking part in on frozen ponds and switch it right into a story concerning the best underground hockey participant who ever lived?

Once I take into consideration my childhood, a few of my finest recollections aren’t from college, holidays or birthday events.

They’re from the ice.

Rising up in Finland, I spent huge quantities of time on frozen outside rinks and ponds, taking part in hockey with mates. You didn’t want to prepare it weeks upfront or verify everybody’s calendar. You simply went to the rink. Video games occurred. Friendships occurred. Among the folks I met by means of hockey again then are nonetheless my mates at the moment.

There was one thing particular about these video games. The foundations may very well be versatile, groups may change, and someone would inevitably attempt one thing ridiculous. That feeling turned one of many beginning factors for Puckoff.

After we created Puckoff: Reloaded, we needed to convey a few of that feeling again. Most of the sport’s rinks are frozen outside ponds impressed by the locations the place we grew up taking part in.

Then we requested ourselves a easy query: What if successful didn’t imply scoring extra objectives?

A Totally different Type of Hockey

In most hockey video games, you recognize what you’re speculated to do: Get the puck. Rating objectives. Win the sport. In Puckoff: Reloaded, there are a number of extra choices. You possibly can rating. Arrange a teammate. Make the proper cross. Or you’ll be able to knock somebody out.

And no person on this world appears notably bothered by that final choice.

That’s the world we needed to create: a story-driven hockey sport the place preventing isn’t a random aspect exercise, however a part of the game and its unusual underground tradition. I’ve performed loads of the massive hockey video games through the years. They’re nice at what they do, however I all the time discovered myself pondering: “Why can’t I simply do this?”

You realize the sensation. An opponent does one thing you don’t like, and also you wish to give them just a little… further consideration. However the sport tells you no. That’s once I realized one of many issues I really like about video games. They allow us to experiment, trigger chaos and do issues we wouldn’t essentially do in actual life. So, I believed: what if a hockey sport really embraced that? That’s how Puckoff: Reloaded started.

In our model of hockey, scoring objectives continues to be helpful. It’s simply not the one solution to win.

We’re Not Simply Making a Hockey Recreation

I’ve all the time cherished storytelling, and for years I’ve had a selected dream: What would it not be like if an enormous hockey sport really had an actual story? Not only a profession mode the place you play a season and improve your participant. I imply a correct story. Characters you care about. Mysteries. Rivalries. Friendships. A purpose to marvel what occurs subsequent. That’s what we needed Puckoff: Reloaded to be.

Between matches, the sport makes use of a visual-novel-inspired presentation to inform a bigger story. The hockey video games aren’t disconnected challenges. They’re a part of a journey. And that journey is about discovering a legend.

The Seek for Dominator

On the coronary heart of Puckoff: Reloaded is a hockey legend named Dominator. He’s been taking part in underground hockey matches for many years, and no person actually is aware of how he’s managed to maintain going for thus lengthy. What everybody does know is that he has by no means misplaced a sport.

For the participant character, Dominator isn’t simply one other hockey participant. He’s the explanation to maintain taking part in. The dream is easy: discover Dominator and ultimately play alongside him. Getting there means assembly the individuals who inhabit this underground hockey world and proving you’re ok to belong in it. Finally, that results in the Cage.

Welcome to the Cage

The most important fights in Puckoff: Reloaded don’t occur in a standard hockey area. They occur underground.

The Cage is the place among the sport’s most harmful opponents are ready. These boss matches are completely different from peculiar video games: you’re not merely dealing with one other crew and attempting to attain extra objectives. You’re dealing with a personality with their very own identification, skills and method of taking part in. And if you happen to’re going to get nearer to Dominator, you’ll need to get by means of them.

Our Dream is Greater Than This Recreation

I’m pleased with what our five-person crew has created, however I additionally see Puckoff: Reloaded as the start of one thing. My dream has all the time been to make story-driven hockey video games with the scope and manufacturing values of the big-budget video games. I need hockey video games the place you bear in mind the characters as a lot because the matches. Tales that make you care who wins. I need a sport the place you’ll be able to spend a night taking part in hockey with your folks, laughing when someone will get knocked out—after which come again the following day since you genuinely wish to know what occurs to the characters.

We’re not an enormous studio. We’re 5 folks in Finland making the sport we needed to play. For me, that’s what Puckoff has all the time been about. It began with the frozen ponds the place a few of my finest childhood recollections have been made. Now we’re taking these recollections, including a ridiculous quantity of preventing, making a hockey legend who hasn’t misplaced in a long time, and turning the entire thing right into a story.

We simply have to search out Dominator first.

Puckoff: Reloaded launches on Xbox Collection X|S at the moment.