Animal Crossing meets Hades in non-violent story sandbox Mythwrecked

Throughout a busy afternoon at WASD, I discover myself marooned on a legendary island. Polygon Treehouse’s Mythwrecked is a small pocket of calm in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the conference flooring, and I’m enveloped within the sound of seafoam and a delicate harp as I befriend amnesiac gods, decide via deserted ruins, and feed dried dates to seagulls. Afterwards, I meet up with inventive director Alex Kanaris-Sotiriou to speak fable and modernity.

From blockbuster action-adventure game God of Battle to roguelike indie darling Hades, there’s no query that the Greek pantheon is a veritable playground for character design in videogames. Nonetheless, Polygon Treehouse guarantees a really totally different interpretation. “Although they’re gods, we wished them to really feel human,” Kanaris-Sotiriou explains. Whereas Mythwrecked aligns nearer to games like Animal Crossing, its gods are conduits to discover critical fashionable points – from work habit to anger administration. As an alternative of placing them on a plinth, Polygon Treehouse permits them to be flawed and relatable.

This sentiment continues via their visible design, which showcases a variety of physique varieties, silhouettes, and colour schemes. On Ambrosia Island, Hephaestus’ mythological chariot turns into a modern-day wheelchair, and Hermes rocks a dad bod over the stereotypically slender look. “We see individuals of all totally different styles and sizes – why is that not being represented?” Kanaris-Sotiriou asks. “To really have characters that you simply join with on an emotional stage, you might have to have the ability to hook up with them and see a component of your individual life mirrored again at you.”

Myths are a robust human instrument to make sense of the world, and Kanaris-Sotiriou divulges that Mythwrecked itself emerged from the studio’s emotional response to Covid. The struggles of self-isolation throughout that interval fuelled an escapist dream of “having the ability to go someplace on a vacation, make new mates, and reunite a household” – little doubt the exact same sentiment that had us all reaching for the Nintendo Swap to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons again in 2020.

Polygon Treehouse is a champion of holistic storytelling, and this design philosophy – first established in the course of the studio’s debut title, the quiet and poignant adventure game Röki – is in no small half accountable for Mythwrecked’s post-Covid neighborhood spirit. “With Röki, we realized that an object isn’t simply an object – it may be emotionally charged.”

In Mythwrecked, objects are pivotal to progress. Acquainted exploration mechanics reminiscent of an merchandise radar are paired with a topic-driven dialogue system that invitations me to forge connections with the divine. I take the time to domesticate my friendship with Hermes by monitoring down his mementos – a satchel and a pair of well-worn sandals, naturally – and exit of my method to fulfill small favors for him on my travels. In return, he conjures up some firewood to offer my makeshift camp a homely glow.

As Hermes warms as much as me, he turns into prepared to delve into matters of dialog that unnerve him. “The exploration and storytelling are very a lot linked collectively,” Kanaris-Sotiriou explains. “You’re not simply going from A to B – it’s the entire journey. All the things is alive, every thing is reactive.”

This extends to Ambrosia Island itself. It’s a dynamic story sandbox, which Kanaris-Sotiriou appropriately likens to “a block of marble that you simply’re progressively chiseling away at and revealing the story.” As I examine esoteric factors of curiosity, I shore up new strains of inquiry to deliver to my new friends. The island’s day-night cycle additionally presents new alternatives; crates of decor objects are washed ashore in a single day, which I take advantage of to spruce up the deserted lighthouse I’ve already began to name residence.

As I lastly earn Hermes’ belief sufficient to achieve passage additional inland, I’m struck by Mythwrecked’s core conceit of cooperation as the important thing to progress. Whereas the expertise at Polygon Treehouse has ample expertise engaged on FPS games just like the Killzone sequence, it’s clear {that a} non-violent method is important to the studio’s ethos.

“I feel it’s vital to have a way of journey, exploration, and discovery with out having to beat individuals up. We wished the tone of [Mythwrecked] to be like a Saturday morning cartoon,” Kanaris-Sotiriou remarks, invoking the likes of Steven Universe, Asterix, and Tintin. “It’s not with out peril, however it feels welcoming.”

Mythwrecked is slated for launch in Q3 2024, however a demo is presently out there on Steam for those who can’t wait to fulfill the gods and uncover the mysteries of Ambrosia Island, On that notice, we’ve additionally acquired an entire host of relaxing game suggestions, in addition to a broader listing of upcoming games to look ahead to within the coming months.