A narrative experience connects to the essence of stealth games. A new stealth action story with “ERIKSHOLM: The Stolen Dream” [gamescom]

“Eriksholm The Stolen Dream” (PC/PS5/Xbox Series It's a game.

The story is set in the vast Scandinavian town of Eriksholm, which is inspired by Scandinavia in the early 1900s, and depicts the story of Hannah, a woman who gets caught up in an event that changes the fate of the entire town. After seeing the announcement at "Future Games Show: Summer Showcase 2024" that was distributed on June 9, 2024, some people may have been interested in the dramatic movie and atmospheric city scenes.

We asked Anders Hejdenberg, the creative director of River End Games, about the game's features and his thoughts on the development at gamescom 2024, which was held in Cologne, Germany from August 21st to 25th, 2024 local time. Ta.

Mr. Anders Hejdenberg, who introduced the game this time, started his game career as a 3D artist in 1998, and then turned to game design and programming. He has worked on famous games for major manufacturers such as DICE, but he and other members of River End Games came together with the idea that ``If we gather the right people, even a small team can create something cool.'' launched.

River End Games, which produces this work, is a small development team made up of about 20 creators with various backgrounds, as shown on this page.

The important thing that River End Games and Mr. Kasei value in game development is the idea that ``By working on something with all your heart, you can connect with someone who is there.''

When I was working on so-called AAA for a major manufacturer, for example, even if I was told that there were ``1 million players,'' I rarely felt a connection with the people actually playing the game. I love games and I'm having fun with my grandchildren," and "I've become a couple with the person I used to play games with, and now we're parents. We still play the games you created together." He says he has been able to hear voices and feel once again the important part of making things.

This idea of ​​being close to others has a great influence on this work, which depicts the journey of Hannah , who, while searching for her missing brother Herman , encounters an event that shakes the entire city of Eriksholm.
The Cutter's Hill area where Hannah and Herman live (the author's listening experience) is known as the poorest area in Eriksholm. This area used to be home to many shipwrights and sailmakers, but with the advent of steamships, the number of unemployed people increased. The city of Eriksholm has gone from being a proud area to a place of hardship. But for Hannah and Herman, this is home. In other words, they are important places, and they are connected to each other by strong bonds.

The story of Hannah, who searches for Herman, who went to work one day and never returned, and struggles to reunite with her family, is depicted as a quarter-view stealth game with an emphasis on narrative. As the story progresses, Hannah's collaborators and others will join, and in the end you will be able to challenge stages while switching between three characters.
One person in the distance makes some kind of action, such as making a sound, that attracts the enemy and asks, ``What's that?'', and the other person who is close to the enemy sneaks past behind him. The entire city of Eriksholm becomes a stage where the player's own ideas and choices are put to use.

What was interesting about this work was that the guidance in the gameplay part of “players must think about their own solutions” was well combined with the adventure that emphasizes narrative.

Hanna is the only player character at the start of the game. It's been just one person for a while, and it's still a long way before the second one appears. And Hannah doesn't have any special skills or fighting techniques.
This is because, in the story, Herman is being chased by the police, and Hannah is also the one whose actions are being monitored, meaning she is suddenly the one being chased, and there are no countermeasures in place. If you don't have anything, you have to be really careful and you can't be defenseless.
Make a sound to attract the other person and eventually walk towards the other side. Find a path that is out of sight and move with your hips down. The fact that players act in secret because they are in a weak position matches the essence of stealth games.

You can experience this as the story progresses, and as the number of characters you can control increases as the story progresses, you can take on new strategies by incorporating elements of ``cooperation with friends'' based on your actions so far. What River End Games valued in the game design/level design of this work was the idea of ​​``we want to keep the game fresh until the end.'' What players say when we play test is that they feel an urge to ``I want to know what's next''. This does not depend on the mechanics of the game or the gimmicks of the stages, and instead of adding extra buttons or gimmicks that must be mastered, that wish can be fulfilled by expressions that match the development of the story.

"ERIKSHOLM: The Stolen Dream" is currently being developed for PC, PS, and Xbox. Support for Japanese subtitles is also planned, and since dialogue is an important part of this work, they will be particular about the positioning of the subtitles so that the player's line of sight does not stray from the scene. There are currently no plans to distribute the demo version on Steam, etc., but I would like to experience the atmosphere of this work with my own hands and head before its release in 2025. For now, I'd like to put it on my Steam wishlist and keep an eye on future developments.

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