This sounds a little like the AC formula. In those games, I don’t really feel like I’m in the animus, so I think direct control over the hero should be thrown out, otherwise the bits where you’re not controlling the hero will feel out of place.
Inscryption is a very different game and I certainly felt more trapped, especially in the first third of the game. In that one, there’s an ever present reminder that you’re trapped, and there’s interesting stuff to so outside the main gameplay loop.
So you need to play as the princess and make interaction with things other than the hero fun, but not so fun that you don’t want to be rescued. I think you also need some kind of peril to give urgency as well. Some ideas:
elements from Prey - hide from your captor when helping your hero
puzzles and whatnot in your prison
periodic checkins - i.e. need to be in certain places at certain world times
Where the princess is in cahoots with the dragon. Maybe there are evil knights coming to marry her, and she needs to create a path for Prince Charming.
You have to do some work for the tower’s master and/or you need to gather informations for the knight. That could be stuff like cleaning their orbs so they can ponder them later, preparing/finding magical critters to be used in their potions, putting away his stupid sentient magical artifacts that keep trying to escape or do some shenanigans… Whatever. And try to gather information/find escape routes etc. But imo if there is some knight gameplay, it should be a minor part of the experience, otherwise you will indeed feel like you’re just playing the knight.
Edit: I think you could still have a fair share of knight gameplay if you make the princess gameplay some sort of walking sim where you wander around the tower, possibly under time constraints, and when it’s over, your have a knight section. You can figure out tons of way to make these gameplay segments interact too. For example there could be roadblocks to the knights progression that require the princess to do/find something. That could be mixed with Libra’s idea of having the princess cast spells and do other stuff during the knight’s segments, by having the player find the spells/artifacts required during the princess segments
TLoZ: Spirit Tracks had you control Link primarily but you used Zelda’s ghost to possess things, help you fight, and solve puzzles. It would be hard for a solo dev, but you could have a knight with an AI that proceeded based on what paths you unlock for it. So the princess would be some sort of astral projection I guess. But then, you wouldn’t really feel trapped. Maybe you need to hide your activity from the dragon or distract it for a stealth aspect or resource management. You would need to balance swapping back and forth between your body and helping the knight. Might be easier to settle on an in-universe justification after figuring out the core gameplay.
As I post whenever someone complains about them not being free in !freegames: you can sign up for a free trial of prime, claim the thirty or so games currently available, cancel, and keep all the games forever without having to give a penny to Amazon.
I seem to have injured some people, I get the stance on Amazon - no one likes the megacorps. But if you’re subscribed, I can’t see how ‘free’ GOG games are a bad thing to anyone.
As with all offers like this Amazon are hoping that it causes people who weren’t subscribed before to stat paying them regularly, and posts like this are kind of giving them free advertising.
It’s similar to recommending something like reward credit cards (where you can make money off them as long as you pay them off in full and never pay any interest), if you’re sensible enough with your money then you can get a freebie but the provider is looking to profit off you messing up or forgetting.
And the best part is that this game is good no matter what. Older straight white dude? No problem. Still fun and interesting. It shows how well done it was.
Agreed, I played it the first time when I was 26, and I’m a straight Swiss and German man. Freaking love playing as Max. I played it two more times after that, and also the Chloe focused prequel.
Before the Storm? Yea that one was really good too. I never played any of the other games though. They never looked as good. Also i heard the newest one was dogshit.
Yes same here. I did watch a bit of someone else playing the one with the two Mexican brothers running away, but never really had the motivation to play it myself. I guess I just found time power to be much more interesting.
I already knew the struggles that women have to endure that most men don’t. But playing this game really put that into perspective, with how immersed I became. By the end of the game, I felt emotionally wreck.
Very much a “girly” game, just in an entirely different sense.
The princess has to find out where she is and how to get there and communicate that via a magical bird to her castle. She can find all the info in the magical tower she is in. Like a point and click adventure/escape room. The game should be full of puzzles the player needs to solve to procure more information for her knight in shiny armor.
You could do part puzzle game, part rts. What I mean by rts is that you can give the knight commands but you can’t control him directly. And maybe he doesn’t always do what he’s told, and you have to account for that somehow?
Could make for an interesting roguelike, too, as you try to help this endless stream of knights rescue you.
My wife is in love with Disney Dreamlight Valley! It’s like animal crossing but with Disney characters and in full 3D. She dresses her character up differently every few weeks. She looked like a reindeer for December/January, and it was so cute! They’re very heavy on the fairy/cozy decor aspect, and while the expansions are paid, they do have free updates every 3-4 months.
She also recommended Calico, which is an indie cat cafe sim at heart, but you also get to dress like a magical girl, design your home, ride around town on animals like giant foxes, dogs, red pandas, more cats, etc. Very cute and relaxing.
On Your Tail is a cute mystery game set in an idyllic Italian seaside town with beautiful storytelling and character development.
She seconds other comments encouraging Haven, pulls the heartstrings and relaxing with minimal combat.
There are also the HerInteractive Nancy Drew games, which are older but fun female-centered mysteries. She recommends Phantom of Venice and Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon.
God the Oblivion Remaster is seriously one of the best looking games I’ve ever played. I love the new looks for almost everything, but the window effect on Oblivion gates still feels a little off to me. It still looks cool though.
I still can’t get over just how good everything looks though.
bin.pol.social
Aktywne