With the recent development in Triple-A titles it feels like a big part of the gaming industry has been putting more and more emphasis on profits and less attention to the actual games. It is understandable that gaming is a business and as such it is supposed to produce revenue, but it seems like this comes at the cost of the so called gaming-experience and immersion. With a polished formula, many game display similar mechanics, inconsequential stories and it is harder and harder to find a refreshing and riveting title to play.
With this consideration, smaller companies may be less constricted by the quote on quote standard and strive to accomplish innovation in the gaming community; from time to time this may be the case of a new indie title that will have something to tell. This article will focus on one such game, Othercide created by Lightbulb Crew, and try to deconstruct and analyze the way the story was written (as such it will contain spoilers). It will however not deal with the mechanics since there are already other articles that already explain them in-depth.
A few words about the game
Othercide is a turn-based strategy game with roguelike elements that plays somewhat as the acclaimed X-COM series (although the chances of hitting are slightly higher). One of the first things that catches the eye is the artwork: the only colors used are black and white, the different shades of grey in-between them and a dash of crimson red on the menus and characters.
Many words could be used to describe the setting of the game: the grim world that is depicted could be defined as gothic or macabre, on the brink of collapse or already beyond redemption, an otherworldly and inhospitable environment filled with nightmarish creatures. The word Lovecraftian might be even freely tossed around. This bleak setting, combined with the aesthetics already mentioned and a flare for a fragmented story make up for an immersive gaming experience.
The other side of the story
Initially the story is hard to piece together; only by playing through the game and unlocking the different codex entries will the player be able to grasp the intricacies of the plot.
The first part of the story unravels with the Red Mother and her fight against the Suffering Other. It seems that the war she is carrying out takes place in the Dark Corner, a realm between realities. The Daughters that she summons are warriors, frequently named as the cardinal and theological virtues, will have to battle nightmarish creatures and die only to be born anew to fight in this stillness of time. There is a certain bitterness in their endless struggle within this dichotomy between good and evil.
The bosses gradually reveal something more about the story and each has his own motive and characterization. A plague of sorts gives the setting and the Child, the one that the Red Mother is trying to save, seems to be immune. Because of this the first boss is the Surgeon, a creature that feels somewhat justified in his actions of tormenting the Child. Every cut brings him closer to a cure and the price to pay is the wellbeing of the Child. The Deacon’s actions are somewhat different: because of his hypocrisy, after adopting the Child, he discovers his abilities and cowering in fear, locks him in a cellar. The third and fourth entities the Red Mother has to face are the Maid and the Child himself; the woman was a “fragile flame in an ocean of darkness”, the only one who tried taking care of the Child but who was then murdered by the Deacon. There is a sensation of anguish when facing the Child as he does not want to be hurt and his only fault was having a body that refused to die; the actions of the people around him led him to suffer. As such, suffering is the final boss, or better yet the Suffering Other: its aim is to break the Veil, a layer that separates the Unreality from Reality. “From a single seed, I am born”: the Suffering Other is a manifestation of the Child’s pain, one that would have never existed if the society around him would have been kinder.
A second part of the story may be pieced together by reading the entries in the codex referred to as memories: as the name suggests they are actually fragments of the Red Mother’s life and work as a prequel to the fight with the Suffering Other. This is a story that spans from the beginning of the thirteenth century and one that also deals with alienation. The Red Mother, a mere girl in 1214, was ostracized because of her healing capabilities, shunned by other villagers and only protected by her brother; she escapes from home when a fire engulfs the village and its inhabitants – they were out to kill her. Her story follows her as a friendly Guide shows her the way to Nostra, a somewhat religious convent or organization. She is taught to fight and survive by a sword master who will learn about her being a Chosen One – this meant that she shared a bond with a creature (possibly an Other) inside her and explains her capabilities. Alongside her master, they will begin to kill nightmarish monsters for the Nostra organization. As time passes, she does not grow older; her immortality makes her gradually desensitized to loss and to the horrors of life, searching for forgiveness and purpose on battlefields. With more hardships, she will feel more and more shattered, not finding solace even in Nostra, an organization that was becoming more and more corrupt. In the final stages of the story, she will learn that the Guide was just Curiosity, probably another Other, one who was there to simply observe. She will break in a city, quarantined shut because of the plague, and here the story of the Child will begin.
The gaming experience combines with the mystery of a story that has to be pieced together step by step. As the two halves of the story start making sense, so grows does the satisfaction of the player turned reader. The Others are deities of a pantheon of the Unreality, as such this would suggest that they are not real; but Suffering, one of the oldest amongst them, comes into existence because he is being evoked by the Child’s pain. The Child’s torpor and numbness become a mechanism of defence and the nightmarish monsters he summons were shaped and given life because of traumas inflicted by other humans. In this unrealistic setting there is a very real moral about consequences and pain.
A brief interview
Anders Larsson, the creative director for Othercide, was kind enough to answer some of my questions about himself, the game and the creative process behind it. I am very grateful for his replies and insight.
What are the responsibilities of a creative director and what was your approach to Othercide?
The Creative Director is the person responsible for the overall player experience, that is responsible for the combined art-direction and game play. In my case it meant working a lot with Alexandre Chaudret our Art Director, to decide on art-style and musicians, but also with the game designers to decide core mechanics, enemies, etc.
In your opinion, what is the purpose of a game?
Games are like any cultural products (films for instance) and in that they can have many different goals. Some try to teach us about humanity ethics etc, and others give us an escape for a time from our daily lives.
Lovecraft or Guillermo del Toro for the monsters, Sincity or Afro Samurai for the art style: which of these sources of inspiration are spot on and which are completely erroneous?
The inspirations for the monsters come from many different sources. Lovecraft is for sure part of our influences, but not so directly. In terms of the art-style, it is more Berserk and Nier Automata than Sincity. Afro Samurai is sharing part of that manga heritage, but I don’t think it was a direct influence on Othercide.
What inspired you for the setting and story?
The setting and the story was developed very much at the same time as the game itself. We started out wanting to do something set in Paris, but as we started to realize our limitations in resources, we found this in between realm we called the Dark Corner, as a twisted and broken reflection of Paris. We then started exploring what could have created this world, and the story gradually developed from stuff I had written before but mostly from Alex’s inspiration around the monsters and environments.
Black and white and red. What was the intention behind this choice?
First the need to stand out. For smaller teams the game need really sell themselves, and what I asked Alexandre to develop was a style where every frame would be immediately identifiable as Othercide. In the end, black and white creates these fantastic contrasts, and red is the logical link to the blood. Blood of death and damage, but also of life.
“Failure is not the end. Return with lost powers to face a new nightmare.” Would you say that this was an attitude of the team when facing beta-testing and in-game bugs or was it smooth sailing?
Like so many productions, Othercide was very challenging. The increase in quality the last 6 months was huge, and to a large extent depending on the people that helped us with alpha and beta testing. Every day was a struggle, and now that the game is out to great reviews, we are both relieved and happy about the result!
Is there an anecdote of the life “behind the scenes” that you are willing to share?
We actually spent a quite a bit of time early in the development to look at action scenes to see what makes “epic action”. That is because we wanted to create a turn-based game that felt so much more dynamic than what players are used to. We spent hours watching everything from Akira Kurosawa to The Raid and everything in between.
Link to the game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/798490/Othercide/
Link to the Lightbulb Crew: https://lightbulbcrew.fr/