How a Puzzle-Platformer Can Reflect Cooperation, Privateness, and Corporate Greed

Whats up. We’re Out of the Blue Video games.

On the finish of 2023, we launched American Arcadia. It’s a good little recreation that explores fairly a few themes—some simple to identify, others much less so.

Though taking a threat and creating a utterly completely different recreation after releasing a profitable first title (Name of the Sea) will not be one thing that occurs typically lately, we gladly accepted the problem: we wished to develop new recreation mechanics, inform new tales, and preserve evolving as recreation builders.

That’s when our preliminary idea popped into our heads: an escape recreation. Somebody could be fleeing from a dystopia.

From Dystopia to Utopia

However as growth progressed, the dystopia turned a utopian metropolis. And that introduced a lot of questions. The primary one was: if all the things is so good inside this metropolis, why is that this man escaping?

The reply was that there needed to be one thing flawed with the town. One thing horrible. And we didn’t must look a lot additional than our every day lives.

Within the final two years, these of us who develop video video games have skilled firsthand what occurs when unbridled ambition turns artistic, idealistic corporations into soulless entities—managed by algorithms and dominated solely by revenue.

That’s how Arcadia, which was initially conceived as a prototype group for the longer term, turned a soulless 24-hour broadcast actuality present.

However Why Him?

This led us to a different essential theme within the recreation. Why was this man (who now had a title, Trevor Clarence Hills, making an attempt to flee?

Once more, we didn’t must resort to science fiction to seek out a solution.

We’re already dwelling in a society obsessive about relevance and visibility, dominated by algorithms and large knowledge. These days, privateness is sort of a crime. In order that’s what Trevor was meant to be: an extraordinary man, a sufferer of a big company. Somebody who values his personal life.

To sum up: Trevor’s life was not good American Arcadia materials. And he was punished for it.

An Escape Sport of Two

However now that we had this setting, we knew this quiet, easygoing man would have a onerous time making an attempt to get out of the town. So, was somebody from the surface serving to Trevor?

That’s how Angela, the engineer working behind the scenes, got here into play.

And all of a sudden, this recreation about one man’s escape advanced into a reflection on how the necessity to cooperate—even in opposition to forces that generally appear undefeatable—helps us develop collectively and turn into higher individuals. Doing the precise factor is difficult, but it surely’s all the time rewarding.

All Sorts of Gameplay

We tried to mirror all of our themes within the gameplay.

Trevor strikes by means of side-scrolling sections, strolling and working alongside a path roughly laid out for him, which represents a managed and predetermined existence. Alternatively, whenever you play as Angela—who helps him from the surface—you play from a first-person perspective. She’s free to maneuver, assume otherwise, and, crucially, assist Trevor.

American Arcadia is a first-person, second-person, and third-person recreation. It’s a documentary. It’s a recreation. It’s a satire of our world. It has speaking turtles and rainbow roads. And a tremendous catchy tune on the finish.

—and if none of what we’ve advised you hooks you, American Arcadia can be a visually gorgeous, tremendous enjoyable puzzle-platformer, obtainable on Xbox Collection X|S and Xbox One.

Give it a attempt.