I Hope To High Heaven That Heaven's Hope Is Good

Growing up, I always dreamed that I'd one day be able to live a life of adventure. Flash forward many years and - boom - several trillion point-and-click adventures. This isn't really what I had in mind when I was a starry-eyed tyke, but you know what? It'll do. While Telltale and Double Fine do things up with big-ish-budget panache, hundreds of smaller developers skitter about, nimble ideas prancing with quirk. Case in point: Heaven's Hope. It's about a fallen angel in a very literal sense - he took a nasty plummet during his final test at the stunt flying academy - who ends up in a dreary 19th century town overrun by the Spanish Inquisition. How's that for a setup? It looks gorgeously stylized, too. Fall from these glorious frontpage heavens to the harrowing break-lands below for a trailer.

I hope the game's actual camera angle is a bit less, er, suffocating. Also, fewer flashing lights and logos, please. The bits that were visible looked exceedingly attractive in a decrepit, vaguely sinister sense, though. And that's just the beginning. The final game will apparently contain 40 hand-drawn locations, all populated by weird and wacky characters - including two other angels who alternatively taunt the main character and offer him advice.

Here's what it's all about:

"Mosaic Mask puts you in the shoes of apprentice-angel Talorel, a young student of Heaven’s stunt-flying academy who is close to passing the final exam that will finally turn him into a full-fledged angel – but when you suddenly collide with an unknown flying object, you crash onto 19th century Earth near the town of Heaven’s Hope. Accident or not, should the archangels find out that you passed the Heavenly Barriers without permission they will cast you out forever."

"Accompanied by your best friends Myriel and Azael, it is up to you to raise Heaven and Earth to find your way back up in time for the final exam. But beware of the dangers ahead – Heaven’s Hope is in the firm grip of the Spanish Inquisition, and they will give you hell before they let you return to the skies."

Interesting premise paired with an exceedingly bizarre world and tone? Heaven's Hope has my attention. It's still a ways off, unfortunately, with a tentative release date of late 2014. But hey, it's something to look forward to, I suppose. You know, after we've pointed and clicked to the point (and click) of leaving fingerprint-shaped craters in our mice. Such is the modern adventure gamer's burden. You poor souls.