Call Of The Sea devs' next game has you escaping a deadly reality TV show this November
Truman Show anxiety and 2.5D platforming collide in American Arcadia
We’ve all imagined ourselves as the stars (or the villains) of a reality show, right? What could we say, how could we act, or who could we woo to bag the ultimate prize? Everyman Trevor Hills - with his office getup, dad-sized ‘tache, and lanky build - isn’t quite so lucky in the upcoming American Arcadia. You see, he’s unknowingly stuck in a reality TV show where the penalty for unpopularity is death, and considering he has the personality of a pencil, his only option is to escape in genre-bending fashion. See below!
Publisher Raw Fury have now announced that the game will come out on November 19th via Steam. There’s also a free demo available, just in case you want an early peek behind the set.
American Arcadia, the show, is a beautifully elaborate set that’s basically modelled after 1970s retro-futurism. American Arcadia, the game, instead brings to mind the Inside’s puzzley platforming. Not just with the puzzles and platforms, but with the vastly pulled-back camera. The lush framing makes you feel like you’re always being watched, which is obviously fitting for an evil Big Brother / Truman Show-type story.
Though the game begins with Trevor’s hopeful escape, trailers have hinted at the second playable protagonist, Angela Solano, who’s helping the escape from outside the simulation. She’s actually a stage technician on the show, so her first-person sections seem to involve more puzzles, fiddling with security cameras, and potentially some walking sim-esque explorable environments. That would make sense since developers Out Of The Blue were previously behind the fantastic walk ‘em up with fishmen, Call Of The Sea.
Our Ed Thorn was rendered speechless when he tried out the game last year. “I was genuinely gripped from the moment I stepped into Trevor's shoes,” he said. “American Arcadia steered me along effortlessly, with gorgeous environments and a cast of strong voice actors (folks from Firewatch, Spiderman 1&2, and Cyberpunk to name a few) helping lend an air of authenticity to the drama that unfolded.”