Why You Need To Keep An Eye Out For Reset, A Beautiful Sci-Fi Game Set In The Future
This is a writing sample from Scripted writer Rana Vikramaditya
Gaming has come a long way over the few decades it has seen, establishing itself as one of the most prominent as well as a lucrative industry. Over time, with its vivaciously prolific journey, it has managed to have us bear witness to its multitudinous facets, both good and bad. More often than not, averaging between the two and just earning some bleak and drab reactions from us. But some trenchant ones have always surfaced and caught our fancy like a colossal ball of fire raging through the icy North Pole. Except that there are a lot of people to take notice rather than none. Like any other new phenomenon, gaming saw a fusillade of deviant game concepts. Latterly, this barrage has lessened greatly, but there's always room for ideas. Recent times have seen a spurt of independent game developers, ofttimes owing to conflicting ideas among game developers, or just people not getting the nod for their ideas from the biggies or because some game developers want to work in their own sweet time in their own company of a select few. One of such developers is Theory Interactive Ltd. Two guys by the names of Alpo Oksaharju and Mikko Kallinen make this company and their first game – currently under production – goes by the name Reset; something that caught OUR fancy a while back. But we're just one of the few who took notice of it from the start. So what is that makes it so special? Theory Interactive Ltd. started a blog back in February 2012, reset-game.net. The idea for the for the game was begotten a couple of years back. But what's really of essence is how the game has come about in almost two years of its 'official' existence. The game's debut trailer was released in April of 2012 and the whole if it was from the in-game engine. And if your friend asks you, "Does it look anywhere near good?" then you make a wry face and jeer at them if possible. Because that's just as wrong as a question can get. Reset is a PC-exclusive, mystery sci-fi noir, puzzle based first person game and according to its developers, they plan to release it somewhere towards the end of 2014. The game is still largely under development, but the only two videos that have been released by Theory make you think otherwise. The game without a doubt, has set a completely new benchmark for indie games and this new yardstick is a ridiculous one, but well earned. The game's 16 square kilometre world is preposterously detailed so much so it that makes you question its humble origins. And the question that comes to mind is, how in the name of Mario could a team of two people come up with something as beautiful as this. The game is so opulently gorgeous that it leaves you mesmerised for a good long while and it takes a lot more than thoughts to shake you out of your reverie. And that's not even the best part! Reset is a Portal-esque game set in the almost near future on Earth, on a volcanic fictional island by the name of Galápagos. Players can explore this 16Km square world and it's not as simple as "Solve a puzzle to get the next". Each puzzle that you solve in this single-player adventure game adds to the narrative of the game. This 'small' open world indie-mech game features spatial reasoning puzzles sprinkled with copious amounts of physics based time-manipulation puzzles. The nerve-wracking part is the game's ability to let the player go back in time to solve puzzles co-operatively with himself or herself! You can select a time and place of re-entry in the game to complete a puzzle and having done so, you can 'reset' yourself to the re-entry mark making two distinct timelines in the game. The puzzles in the game require/permit you to go beyond two timelines. Puzzles of such degree and complexity sure sound enticing and makes the 'small' world of the game seem not so small especially when it's your brain that is at stake. Portal lovers would have to hold their horses a tad longer for this but by no means does it state that it's ONLY Portal lovers that read about Reset with a groan and carry a heavy weight in their hearts and a dire longing. The single player co-op game mechanic will have 33 puzzles to solve and the developers promise an added 1.5-2 hours of gameplay if they get more funds. The game even boasts of dynamic day and night cycles with accurate star positions. The game devs say that the game is meant for just a couple of sittings and will provide a gameplay of roughly 6 hours depending upon how you approach the game and the world of Galápagos. The story is closely interwoven with the puzzles in the game. The debut video of the game garnered 400,000+ hits on Youtube within a week. As already stated, this anticipation isn't without cause. The video has a robot sitting idly in a seemingly abandoned city as time passes by. The visual and audial aspects of the trailer give off an eerie sense of the city and the environment around the robot, the video ending with a hint of awakening in the robot. That just makes you want to go and pat that robot on the shoulder saying "It's gonna be alright soon….". Just you wait for the release. The world around seems a tad dull and dreary, but it isn't done in a vapid fashion.
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