With choice-driven point-and-click adventures like Telltale Games' The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us making a renaissance in recent years, episodic games have been all the rage.
Well, developer Sam Farmer has an ambitious new project titled LAST LIFE, and its full three future episodes are available for a modest $15 on Kickstarter. On top of that, famed quirky studio Double Fine Games and its leader Tim Schafer have hopped on to support the indie title in its quest for funding.
So what exactly is LAST LIFE about, and why is its title in all capital letters? Well, we at least have an answer to the first question, while the second will remain a mystery a little longer. From LAST LIFE's Kickstarter page:
"Gameplay is inspired by modern point and click adventure games like Kentucky Route Zero and Telltale's Walking Dead series. Like them, LAST LIFE focuses on atmosphere and storytelling, while also challenging the player's detective skills of interrogation and deduction.
- You are Jack Parker, recently slain P.I.; Earth was destroyed 11 years ago; and no one is having a particularly good day on Mars. Yet, here you are: back for 4 hours.
- Race your way through the glittery mean streets of MarsTopia as Jack Parker hunts down his own killer.
- Wrangle deadly secrets out of an enormous cast of bizarre characters using whatever works: charm, bribes, or something less pleasant.
- Uncover the inner workings of the squeaky-clean United Corps, which run the planet like clockwork.
- Drink DNA-enhanced brewskis
- Break robots."
OK, I'm intrigued. DNA-enhanced beer sounds cool. But what's the gist of this story?
"Eleven years before our story opens, all life on Earth was ended. Now, only a few million humans still exist, scattered throughout the remaining civilized colonies of the solar system--forever exiled.
P.I. Jack Parker was one of the lucky few to have escaped Earth's tragedy.
On that infamous day, he just happened to be working a case on MarsTopia, the crown jewel among these colonies on the red planet. He survived on that destination resort development, but half-wished he hadn't. The echoes of the life he left behind on Earth...a life lost forever...grew louder every hour. Until, that is, the day 11 years later when he was gunned down and killed.
But here's where Parker gets lucky and our action begins. The next day is MarsTopia's annual Dead Man's Party holiday. Following custom, Parker and all the other recently deceased in MarsTopia get a nice perk: they are each 3D printed back to life in a new body and given just enough time to enjoy the gala. But Parker has no intention of politely resuming his death after the party wraps. He has just four hours to break out of the 3D lab, pick up the leads in his troubling case, and find his own killer. And, rushing against time he actually doesn't legally have, perhaps uncover what triggered Earth's demise."
There's a lot more info on LAST LIFE's Kickstarter page, but I'm not going to post that here because I'm too busy giving all of my money to this game. And I think you should go and read about it and give the good Mr. Farmer all of your money, too. Check out the video below and then go watch all of the cool gifs on the Kickstarter page and help out a cool indie game.
