1000xResist begins, like many good mysteries do, with a homicide. Or, fairly, an assassination. Mere moments into my demo, I watch as a lady named Watcher plunges her knife within the physique of a lady who seems to be identical to her. However the act isn’t with out function: it’s a mandatory a part of a ritual referred to as a Communion, which permits the executioner to relive the recollections of the particular person they only killed. That dramatic opening is simply the beginning of what appears poised to be a posh story in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi world, and it left me curious to see extra of this experimental tackle a time-travel journey.
The debut undertaking from Vancouver-based studio Sundown Customer, 1000xResist is about after the autumn of humanity, which was worn out after a illness eradicated all however one particular person, a teenage lady named Iris. The first timeline of the sport happens one thousand years after these occasions have transpired; Iris is now referred to as the ALLMOTHER, and has since created a society solely occupied by clones of herself. Watcher, the playable protagonist of the sport, is one among these clones, and has the flexibility to relive the recollections of others. With rumors of treason circulating throughout the insular neighborhood, Watcher dives into the recollections of the ALLMOTHER hoping to uncover no matter fragments of the reality she will.
“The large factor in regards to the recreation is that it spans 4 generations, so a couple of thousand years value of characters,” mentioned Remy Siu, artistic director and founding father of Sundown Customer. “You get to fulfill characters from our current time, to far sooner or later, to even additional sooner or later.”
Moments after the extreme opening sequence, I discover Watcher transported to what seems to be like a Japanese public faculty. The school rooms have lengthy been deserted – desks are scattered about in a heap, and the entire constructing is draped in an oppressive pink mild. I start poking across the rooms, seeing what I might discover, flipping by means of the messages on a forgotten cellphone to try to make sense of the place. It’s largely quiet, apart from the militarized guards stationed across the place – they appear to be working with me, or probably for me.
“That is Watcher’s operate, to return and expertise All-Mom’s recollections, to make sense of what occurred and what was happening previously,” Siu mentioned.
Whereas this early chunk of 1000xResist performs out from considerably of an isometric perspective, with the digital camera angle shifting as I stroll between rooms a-la old fashioned Resident Evil, the gameplay mechanics and presentation will change between chapters relying on what story the sport is making an attempt to convey. “For instance, there’s a chapter the place you go to her household house and meet her mom and father, and that’s in first particular person,” Siu mentioned. At different instances, the sport would possibly play extra like a conventional third-person journey, and even like a visible novel.
As I discover the varsity grounds, I’m launched to a core mechanic within the recreation: the flexibility to flip between time durations. On the press of a button, Watcher is immediately transported again into the previous, seeing the varsity at a cut-off date when it was crammed with college students. Impressively, it occurs instantaneously. There are, in fact, narrative implications to this skill, nevertheless it additionally permits Watcher to entry beforehand inaccessible areas. Siu mentioned you are able to do this at any level within the recreation, though how precisely will probably be applied in every chapter will rely upon what the story calls for at that time.
“It was a ache to get working,” Siu mentioned, “however you’re capable of see completely different areas and the way issues have modified primarily based on the time elapsed.”
1000xResist has been in growth for about two-and-a-half years by a core crew of about fifteen individuals, however the studio has been leveraging expertise from throughout the humanities. One in every of their writers, Natalie Tin Yin Gan, can also be a dancer and choreographer. Different crew members have labored within the performing arts and movie worlds. The undertaking is supposed to be experimental on this approach. “It’s a problem, nevertheless it’s fairly wealthy with plenty of different views coming in,” Siu mentioned.
The entire recreation is voice-acted, too, and that additional work actually helped immerse me extra into the expertise. As a result of Watcher is the genetically-splintered offspring of the All-Mom, her voice is considerably robotic – she sounds human, however speaks like a machine presumably would. The writing, to date, felt wonderful, well-suited for the sense of thriller the sport is making an attempt to convey however with out ever turning into too dense that it will be tough to parse. 1000xResist virtually appears like a detective recreation, at the least in the course of the small sliver I obtained to play.
There’s much more stepping into in 1000xResist than I had time to see throughout my half-hour demo, however between the sport’s extra exploration-focused chunks the participant will have the ability to spend time in an area referred to as the Orchard. It’s the final bastion of what’s left of humanity, and is the place Watcher lives together with her sisters. It acts as a kind of hub space to discover and chat with different characters; I didn’t get to see it myself, however I’m curious to study the way it will tie in with the time-shifting parts of the sport.
I used to be additionally informed that 1000xResist may have a number of endings. “The sport presents you with these eventualities that, should you concentrate, you can be requested to make some fairly extreme choices on the finish,” Siu mentioned.
With the sport poised to comprise every kind of flashbacks and flashforwards, it stays to be seen simply how easily the entire items of this seemingly advanced narrative will come collectively. Siu cited a variety of artistic inspirations for the undertaking from Grim Fandango to Kentucky Route Zero, though he promised that this recreation will total be extra simple than than the latter of these two video games. Nonetheless, I actually loved what I performed and was left wanting extra; hopefully the Change model will run in addition to the demo construct I performed. We’ll discover out when 1000xResist launches on Change in Q1 2024.