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In-depth at E3: Nero

Indie studio Storm In a Teacup is working on a new way to play a story puzzler, calling their game Nero a “next-gen visual novel”. I can’t think of a better description for what is an absolute sensory delight. Nero features rich neon colours contrast against a very dark world, beckoning you further into the game and tempting you to explore. It’s nothing short of gorgeous.

On its way to Xbox One via the ID@Xbox program, Nero certainly shows of what the console is capable of visually. It’s not players breathing or high definition faces with detail down to the pores like other current-gen games are showing off, but rather its stunning artistic style that incites a sense of magic and wonder.

I spent some time with Carlo Bianchi, Storm in a Teacup’s CEO and Creative Director at E3, deep in the bowels of Microsoft’s press-only booth. He explained that what I was seeing was an alpha build of Nero and part of the second level. The game centres around the ideas of first person exploration, story and most importantly, environmental puzzles.

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These three ideas have been woven together so they flow impressively well. Exploration will allow players to find hints used for solving puzzles. The story comes in the form of narration given to players as a reward for completing puzzles and allowing access to larger areas for more exploration. It’s an endless cycle that subtly feeds the player with more resources to progress.

The story is deep and focuses on a central theme: are you ready to sacrifice something for someone you love? Love, sadness, guilt and revenge are all prominently featured in what is a very personal story for the development team. It’s a story-driven game and it’s clear a lot of work has gone into creating the sense that you are building the story rather than experiencing it. Although it’s not an open world, it is free roaming, allowing you to do what you want. The developers want you to explore and its clear when looking at the mesmerizing environments they’ve created. The puzzles use the brilliant colours to their advantage; orange markers indicate an unsolved puzzle while blue markers show the puzzles has been completed.

Replayability is incredibly important and the idea is to keep you thinking about the game even after you stop playing. Carlo mentioned inspiration came from games like Mist, Journey and strangely Final Fantasy VII. He explained that he’s played FFVII so many times it works out to almost once a year since its release in 1997. He has tried to create a game that will make you want to play it with the same intensity as his personal connection with FFVII.

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As you would expect, Nero‘s music is a kind of peaceful wailing drone, forcing the feeling of spirituality and meditation the developers are striving for. It’s very clever in that it brings you even further into the game and perfectly accents what you’re seeing and the story’s theme.

The deep purples, greens and blues work in tandem with dark night skies overflowing with stars making both more intense by comparison. The lighting is amazing, very dark with pronounced light and shadow. Nero could be mistaken visually for a tech demo but with its interesting puzzles and deeply immersing narrative it’s set to offer so much more than just eye candy. Its release date has yet to be announced, but if you’re interested in following Nero‘s progress, check out Storm In a Teacup’s website.


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About the author

Shane Wall

I'm just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe. A game geek turned audio engineer/musician. Shane's life is a delicate balance of video games, music and science fiction.