So I was one of the kids who did a essay on Paradise Lost back in the day, so I get a little triggered whenever I hear the title of John Milton's wholly too-long epic. That being said, alongside war-flashbacks of countless sleepless nights spent pouring over the same monologues without gleaning a single word more, there are also the concepts of that story which come to mind. Ideals of hubris, oppression, manipulation and vengeance; oh so much vengeance. The entire thing is one huge vengeance trip when you think about it. Thus when I hear someone is about to make a game called Paradise Lost, my first instinct is to check if the developers behind 'Dante's Inferno' are still dissolved, they are, and my second is to think that there is a lot directions for a story which invokes that namesake to go in. I mean sure, it's one heck of a weighty name to throw on your back, a story which literally retells the Garden of Eden in the eyes of a dark tragedy, but the symbolic potential alone is practically mouthwatering. Thus, I explored this 'Paradise Lost' game with an open mind.
Straight away from the gameplay reveal we can ascertain that this is some sort of first person exploration title through some sort of abandoned and overgrown industrial environment. The atmosphere seemed to linger on the isolationism angle of the whole affair, as the protagonist seemed utterly alone in their wanderings but for a voice on the radio that appeared to be trying to guide them. It's all very SOMA without the spooks right now as the focus appears to be on exploring this strange world that appears to edge into sci-fi ever so subtly, with the mutated fungi and pseudo-industrial mechanisms. In fact, in a strange sort of way the aesthetic of this title actually reminded me somewhat of Dishonored, except without that game's stylised brush. I could see the vestige of steampunkian London in the pipes, valves and marble decor of this old bunker, and even the twisted plants remind me of the second game somewhat. (Perhaps I'm a little wide with that shot, who knows.)
It's the Steam page wherein we really get the juicy details about what this game purposes for us to play. Taken place in alternate history of World War 2, this game creates a scenario in which the war continued for another 20 years (somehow) only to end when the Nazis fired nuclear missiles at Europe. (Hey, why us? Aren't the Americans usually the primary target in these stories in order to conform to their twisted hero complex sensibilities?) What this means is that the player takes the shoes of a survivor, 12 year old Szymon, as he tries to survive the post apocalyptic Polish wasteland. The gameplay as we've seen it seems to take place primarily in an underground bunker which is apparently formerly Nazi owned, and the concept takes an interesting turn that we've yet to witness as the description teases how the game will dabble with unusual technologies and Slavic mythology!
Honestly, I've seen enough post apocalyptic stories told in and out of gaming to practically plot out my post-society exit-strategy, (hint: It's a bullet) but this promised twist of a supernatural angle changes things up in a way I haven't seen before. Excluding S.T.A.L.K.E.R. And parts of 'Metro'... there are others. But I choose to resonate with this one! I don't quite know what to make of it, but my hope would be hallucinations or general psychological horror that lines up with mythological spookies, because I get the impression this game isn't the kind of one to have actual enemies and deadly threats. The protagonist is 12 after all, people don't tend to enjoy hearing kids get gutted in video games for some reason. (Although Prey seemed to get away with it just fine back in the day.) Although if this does go full myth and terror on us, I've played enough Witcher to known that Poland's mythological beasts are absolutely no joke, so that could be pretty bad ass.
Of course, as this is made by another indie game which delves into concepts of post-apocalytia and alternate history, I can't help but draw parallels between this title and Atomic Heart, a simply beautiful looking title I happened across not too long ago. One thing I think both this game and that has in common is their inspiration, because I see a bit of Bioshock in both of them, especially in the more art-deco influences from this game's habitable bunker areas. Although from the gameplay that I've seen, and there is some gameplay out there, the meat of this title will lean more heavily on searching through previously inhabited living spaces in which you can feel the souls that once lived there, akin to Gone Home, over the action which it looks like Atomic Heart is aiming at. But you can see the similarities.
The team behind this, PolyAmorous (I swear to god that's their actual name) don't appear to have any other titles under their belt, but they do have an agenda and direction for their style of game development and I always love when that's the case. (Usually it spells a craft that is destined to only get better with time.) Reading their 'mission statement' so to speak, it would appear that they have less of a leaning towards challenging gaming and more towards making their titles 'accessible'. (Fuelling my suspicion that Paradise Lost is shaped to be a passive experience.) And though I'm not sure I agree with their whole heated assertions that this direction is "the future of gaming", (I think Dark Souls shows that the act of challenge and hardship itself can be a tool for storytelling) I'd say these are folk that have their target audience in mind and I won't ride them for that.
There is some doubts, however, that I've already seen pop up around this title's announcement trailer and which tends to haunt these sorts of games in general. Essentially it comes down to this; many first projects from studios end up as walking simulator titles with no real gameplay to speak off and hugely derivative storylines; this might shape up to be another one of those. To that I would point out my blog going over what a 'walking simulator' is, and how that 'genre', if you want to call it that, can power deeply personal and immersive experiences. And secondly I would offer my own opinion in saying that this looks like a game with a message and direction. On the website there's a little information on how the player character is going through their stages of grief, likely following the loss of everyone they know in the aftermath of nuclear war, so that alone forms the foundation for a richer narrative than half the underwhelming 'walking simulators' of today. I'm not worried about this game's creativity.
Ultimately this isn't really the kind of game that I'd usually play except for one damnable hook; alternate history, I have a thing for alternate history. Yeah, the idea of a game where the war didn't end when it was supposed to is hardly a new concept (Wolfenstein anyone?) but I haven't seen one with Nazi nukes before and I'm kinda curious how that world is explored through the eyes of a clueless adolescent with no one else in the world apart from a voice on a radio who is absolutely looking to betray him somehow. With the potential promise of narrative choices down the line and apparently a mix of eastern culture thrown in too, (I'll have to take their word for it) my boxes are all ticked and I wanna check this game out. (Which is possible because it has a demo which doesn't require a preorder to play. >cough< Crash Bandicoot >Cough<) So for lovers of post-apocalypse psychological story-driven adventure narratives, it looks like Paradise Lost might be the story for you. (Dammit, I mean the game not the book!)
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