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Peter Molyneux's URQUEST

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On the advice of a friend, I decided to throw my hat into this 'glorious train wreck' event. Considering the short amount of time allowed, I approached this game with the intent of shattering the expectations of a genre. But what genre? The quest, of course. The well from which all games draw from. Quests you have seen before are static, unsatisfying: each has a beginning, a middle, an end. Exposition, action, and denouement. What if there was something more?

There now is. I abolished all such crude approximations of reality in favour of a more holistic approach: the game only dies when you do. You could run this game on a dedicated computer and, every morning, continue in your quest, until the day you finally expire. I wished to also express the intriguing contrast between man and trees: we move around, always in a hurry, always someplace to be. Trees are not like us; they are idle, cursed to a life of constant reflection. And yet, we both die. What if the trees were just like us? In this game, you will be given the opportunity to reflect on life itself, just as the trees do. Please do not squander it. Play this game as slowly as you can, and explore the thousands of options and choices it provides. You will also, of course, require a sword. But to craft one, you will need to destroy the prerequisite amount of trees -- your only allies, your emotional counterpart. This is what we in the industry call "moral choices". Crafting weapons from wood, I should not have to say, is borrowed from the early nineties adventure game "Robinson's Requiem".

Any quest, of course, requires enemies. Your enemies here are all red, unsightly creatures that shamble around the world in a state of perpetual confusion. A commentary on racism and the over-reliance of psycho-stimulant drugs on our children? That is for you to decide. The story in this game, implied, and never outright stated, rewards those who lean in for a closer look. Make no mistake: you will experience emotions during this game. All of them.

All this forms my newest classic: URQUEST. A fitting title -- implying it is the first quest, despite following so many others. That is because this is the beginning of a new era in quests, in adventures, in games. URQUEST could be the greatest game you've ever played, or the worst. The choice is yours.

What will you decide?

(Please excuse the crudity of the illustration; I had only forty percent of the 3D models rendered and bumped before the allotted two hours had expired and was forced to use 'pixel art'.)

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