The Game is the scene of the crime. Shadow of the Game is a multiple award-winning roleplaying title with a strong focus on interactive storytelling. One of the strongest guilds in a fictive MMORPG is embarking on the last expansion’s final raid to become the highest ranking guild in game. The event is so tremendous that even the MMO’s lead developers at Gizzard are watching the raid on live-stream. Things start to slowly fall apart when the guild’s outcast “Cookie” makes his return sporting an illegal race and bringing power-grinded companions. Friendships are put to the test, internships are on the line, and the gamers are forced to take action in the “real world”. “Gameception” – The Indie Game Magazine “It's only natural to get excited for DeRail Game's adventure narrative game” - dsoGaming Multi-branching story Interactive dialogue Puzzles Puzzle based combat Original soundtrack and artwork included
This is a award winning game which tells a multilayered story based in a fictive MMO. It delivers an unpredictable journey of discovery where the player gets to know a variety of characters, their lives and situations. These characters each have their own approach to life. The surprising turns in the story dialog are broken up by puzzles to solve and actions to take. The player has to reason out unusual ways to use items and other characters so as to move forward in the game. In areas with limited interactivity, clever use of movement can solve a dilemma, for example luring a chicken to stand in just the right place so that the player can sprint past to pick up a necessary item. Everyday objects found in an area can be combined with other things to make useful tools to solve a problem. Puzzles serve a dual purpose; they not only provide a challenge where the player gets to use their heads, but also give hints of developments in the story which have not been revealed yet.
Add to all this, the humor which is everywhere in this game, and you have quite an unusual and interesting play experience.
The story touches not only on the players in the MMO, but also on the developers making the MMO and the lives of the people who play the characters in the game. It is filled with off-color humor and puns about taboo subjects like psychoactive drugs and deviant sex, as well as pokes at the games industry itself. The game is full of color and contrasts, and music is used consciously.
The story is central to Shadow of the Game and much of play consists of choices made during dialogs. Traditional combat modes and character development systems have been replaced with narrative choices and story-contextual puzzles. The narrative choices determine the story’s development. The player experiences the story through control of varying characters, not just one. If one character fails, dies, or gets politically buried in the Guild, the story continues.