Never Go Home remains to be one of our games where we look back and realized what we truly accomplished. One of those -as mentioned before- were the themes we attempted to incorporate into the mythos and lore of the game. Did we succeed? Id say yes and no, considering we could only work within a very limited scope. However, the basis that we set, indeed did inform how we'd proceed with NGHII.
We wanted to explore those themes we glanced upon more and allow interpretation by the player to be something we implemented intentionally and not by happenstance of engine limitations. Thus one of the things we wanted to focus on was perception and interpretation.
Looking back at NGH, we realized, that theme was impressed upon a number of times and we figured that it would actually fit in well to be brought to the forefront of the sequel. Gameplay mechanics like managing your crew's sanity meter, and discovering the lore of the world you lends itself to the idea.
Is what your crew and subsequently the player seeing on screen really what its perceived to be?
Is the mission you are embarking on, one of actual value?
Who's to say Jutro and Sumrak are female and make respectively and not vice versa?
Is the public view of Oyanumi Corp as this malevolent industrial behemoth, true?
These are but a few questions we want to explore in NGHII. We are not looking to go down "It was all a dream" trope, nor placate this as a gimmick. We now have the means to truly explore the world of NGHII in.a multitude of interactive ways and this one. Sure at the end of the day, the primary goal of the game is to make it fun (and destroy the forces of EEEEVVVVILLLLL!) but if we can also look indepth to a part of the human condition, then why not?
Is that not what science fiction is for?
We'll let you decide for yourself...
-G
