Fallout Meets Disney With 'Alien Shakespeare', A New Kind of RPG Experience

If you're like me, you're a sucker for a solid RPG experience so when I sat down with the creator [...]

If you're like me, you're a sucker for a solid RPG experience so when I sat down with the creator of Alien Shakespeare and he described it to me as Fallout meets Disney? I was in love. The game itself offers a unique take on the traditional RPG narrative, with history and magic intertwined into one adventure.

Playwrights Haven, the team behind the game, just recently launched a Kickstarter about the game itself but before you go ahead and hit that pledge button, let's learn more about Alien Shakespeare and what about it that makes it so incredibly unique. And as a side note? One of my favourite voice actresses in the entire world, Mass Effect's Jennifer Hale, is a part of this amazing project!

When asked about the background and inspiration behind the game itself, the producer told me "Some of the game mechanics that will be in Alien Shakespeare (such as Lice and Looting as well as Action Points and Dysentery) were inspired by studying 19th Century warfare (including the Napoleonic Wars and American Civil War)."

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(Photo: Alien Shakespeare via Kickstarter)

He then added, "This was before germ theory was fully understood so more soldiers died from disease rather than combat. This approach has brought about an interesting Risk/Reward system. Do you take the jacket off a fallen enemy and risk getting lice? Do you drink from a small pond to restore your Action Points but risk getting Dysentery?"

Alien Shakespeare also offers magic, but not in the traditional slapped on sense. It's not a skill that you're just born with and suddenly can take on hordes of enemies without a single thought. This game requires training, patience, and the threat of real consequences. The producer told me that "using Magic effectively takes years of training and is not something easily picked up by everyone. So if you want to wield a magic item you better be trained to use it. Otherwise you will suffer from Unforeseen Consequences."

He broke it down in pretty simple terms, "Basically, something random will happen when you use the magic item, draining part of the player's health in the process. Say you attack an enemy with a magic wand. There's a chance that you will destroy the enemy outright. There's also the chance that you will restore all of their health or summon a T-Rex. Another thing about Magic is that it revolves around emotion and concentration. Some magic users find it helpful to sing while they cast spells. This aspect was inspired by Disney animated musicals."

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(Photo: Alien Shakespeare)

Another interesting thing I learned is that this experience wasn't actually meant to be a video game. Instead, the original thought behind this adventure was to ultimately be a graphic novel, a sort of retelling of Macbeth. As the progression continued together, the Tabletop-centric tale eventually morphed into a narrative driven video game. And honestly? I couldn't be more stoked.

It does make you wonder though ... aside from just the natural progression, why a video game? "Out of all the forms of media, video games have the most untapped potential because of their ability to let the player be part of the story," said the producer.

"Telltale Games, which has gained much deserved praise for their work on narrative games and for their well written stories, constantly falls into this problem where the player's choices within the game don't really have too much of an impact on the story. There's a good reason why they do this. Each branching decision would cost more time and money. For Alien Shakespeare, the goal is to further explore how we as video game developers can give the player more impact on the story without having it cost more time or money."

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(Photo: Alien Shakespeare)

Speaking of TellTale-style games, he also mentioned that Alien Shakespeare would run similarly to that of a normal TellTale episodic adventure, with a total playtime running at anywhere between 1 1/2 hours to 3 hours long, though how far along the crowdsource funding goes could push that even longer.

If Alien Shakespeare sounds right up your alley, don't hesitate to mosey on over to their official Kickstarter to learn even more, pledge your own support, and check out their sweet, sweet rewards!

For more about the story itself:

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(Photo: Alien Shakespeare)

"The story would begin with the player boarding a ship heading to Doorwell, a city built atop the remains of a water park. The player has been summoned by the Royal family to serve as an advisor (or bodyguard depending on the character build). By the time you get to Doorwell, you find out that the prince and some high ranking generals have died from the plague, leaving a power vacuum in the high court. With the city under threat of attack and its army decimated due to the plague, the royal family decides to give you command of the city garrison in order to try and build an army to stop the Pirate Queen.

How you go about creating this army is up to you. As you approach various characters in the game in an attempt to gain their support (including nobles, mercenaries, crime bosses, revolutionaries, ext.) some of their reactions will depend on your character build. If you are trying to recruit a mercenary, for example, he might refuse to help due to the fact that you are a Hound, which he hates. However, he will lend a hand if you are a fellow Rodent (and might actually lend some additional artillery to your cause.)"

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