“The story is told through player actions and situations,” says Cabella. To add to this uncertainty, Cabella explains that The Plane Effect also has very little text. We were also curious about the challenges of writing a story in which the main character and the player aren’t meant to know what’s going on - Solo doesn’t know what’s happening around him, and the game itself seems designed to be unpredictable. What will they do? How will they approach the game’s puzzles? The Plane Effect is very much a game about players experiencing a memorable journey, from which they can take away their own interpretation,” says Cabella. “We are always thinking about the player. There isn’t an inventory system, and Cabella says that the simplicity of The Plane Effect’s mechanics and interface serves to emphasise that core concept of Solo’s journey, and to bring the player’s intuition to the fore when approaching the game’s puzzles. Who is ‘Solo’ the protagonist? Where is he going and why? It’s a game very much open to interpretation - and we hope different players take something unique to themselves from that journey.” “The Plane Effect has the flavour of point and click adventures in some ways - classic puzzle adventures in others - it’s as much a game about the player’s journey of discovery. Some have described it as a 3D Limbo or Inside - but honestly, we think it’s not a 100% correct description,” Cabella adds. “The Plane Effect is never what you think it is - just when you think you understand what is happening, or what it’s about, the game throws something completely unexpected your way.”Īt its most basic level, says Cabella, “it’s a dystopian, isometric puzzle game. Fundamentally, the overall mood, certainly as you progress, is less one of bleakness, and more one of surprise and hope,” Cabella continues. But we feel that players will also experience some very light-hearted moments, moments that make you smile, moments that really take you by surprise, cutting through that darker atmosphere.
“It has a very distinct atmosphere, sometimes brooding, sometimes foreboding - often players will find their expectations subverted. “The Plane Effect is often dark,” Cabella acknowledges. The trailers and screenshots for The Plane Effect give an impression of a bleak, unsettling world, but it seems this isn’t always the case. Already, his world has begun to behave in unexpected ways and to block him from his goal, and he has to interact with and explore his environment before he can progress further. Solo goes to leave the office and head home, only to find the door locked. Who are these dark figures monitoring his every move?” That contrast between Solo’s one simple goal and the complexity of the world around him is shown straight away with the first small puzzle right at the start of the game. Try as he might to leave the office, where the game begins, he is frequently returned - where he is always being watched by a sinister force. “Is this the end of the world? Is this why Solo is so desperate to return to his family? You also learn in the early stages that Solo is not alone. “Early on you discover that there’s some kind of anomaly in space, illuminating the sky,” explains Cabella. But then you get a glimpse of the otherworldly thing in the sky, and see how the world begins to unravel in unfathomable ways as Solo forges through it.
Experience a remarkable journey expertly brought to life with gorgeous visuals, crafted and tailored by VFX experts.A key question - everything we’ve heard so far paints an increasingly complex picture of this “time-and-mind bending adventure game.” In theory, it should sound simple: the game begins in Solo’s office, with him finishing for the day and ready to set off home.
A dystopian isometric adventure, following a lonely office worker as he attempts to return home in the face of impossible odds. Did it always take this long? Were the streets always a labyrinth? Where even is "home"? All you know is that you must keep pushing ever onwards, you must keep going. As you progress through the dystopic cityscape, you quickly you realise all is not as it should be. Helpless over the cosmos, all you know is that you must return to your family, as soon as you can. As you progress through the dystopic It's your final day at the office, it is time to clock out and return home - loomed over by a cosmic anomaly with an oppressive, otherworldly force. Summary: It's your final day at the office, it is time to clock out and return home - loomed over by a cosmic anomaly with an oppressive, otherworldly force.