PAX East 2019: Atomic Wolf’s Liberated Offers A New Way Of Storytelling

As like every event I go to, I look for what titles stand out the most from the plenty that are displayed on the show floor. For this year at PAX East in Boston, one title that stood out directly from the form of how a story is told through the media of interactive play, Atomic Wolf’s side-scrolling platformer Liberated does just that.

Rather than the plot of the story being told through playing the game traditionally, you play and read the title as if it is a comic book. The transition between the two forms of media is in sync which makes the flow of the game even more enjoyable.

Set in the near future you live in a world of an overpowering government who has surveillance of everyone’s single move through the bevy of online moderating, scattered cameras, and credit score tracking. For the example of the demo, I managed to get my hands on the first issue of four available for the base game where I play a programmer who’s more than aware of the what is happening in the game’s world. Each issue will cover different viewpoints throughout the game’s universe varying from the standard Joe to an higher-up in the totalitarian government.

Discussing the game prior to the hands-on, it was mentioned that decisions I make will play a major role in how the story will go down which either results in favor of the always watching government or to side with the rebelling faction that want an end mass surveillance. After being tracked by the all seeing system, I chose to run over complying with the authorities which kicked off the story.

Eventually being captured, it was revealed that simple crimes like walking across the street when not permitted could even provoke the higher administration. But my choice to run influenced a more violent outcome with the police and could of ended more differently if deciding to cooperate with them. This later leading to encountering the anti-government rebellion, the Liberated.

Following the one of four protagonist’s stories, the back and forth between reading and playing kept a consistency of the same artwork and captured striking angles that simulate the pages of an actual comic book. Speaking with the game’s publisher L.INC, Co-Founder Robert Purzycki explains that the game’s artwork had to be the more difficult part of the game’s development when capturing striking angles and scenes in general. Then to maintain momentum of the game’s story was another obstacle at hand to continuously overcome.

For the choice of a more diverse way of telling a story, Purzycki shares that many titles currently out there never took the opportunity and felt the game will stick out to be more unique with the decision. Stating that games and even movies that are adapted don’t typically stick to the print’s original form of telling the plot and follow how the director prefers it to be projected into the respected form of media.

Players interested in the interactive graphic novel can add the game to their wish list on the game’s Steam page. The game is said to launch sometime in late-Summer this year with a price tag of $15 dollars. The studio plans to have a steady launch for PC then follow-up with the game’s debut on consoles in the months after.