After nearly three years of work, Tymon Zgainski is launching his first-person adventure game Rituals (previously called The Official) on Steam for Windows, Mac, and Linux on May 27th.
Rituals has an eerie atmosphere provided by its no-texture low-poly look and the accompanying sound design. Nothing is depicted in a realistic manner as it’s a game about the subconscious, about dreams, and hopes.
Zgainski considers it somewhat of an artistic diary that he has added to over the past few years, bit by bit. Each part of the game reflects his thoughts during that moment in his life, some of it being direct recreations of dreams he had at night. This is why the game starts off in an office building and is about mundane routines, the cruel corporate world, the meaning of life, religion, and why mortgages are bad for your health. All of these are topics that Zgainski thought about a few years ago.
Then the game has you go outside into more imaginative lands that reflect the more upbeat and colorful thought patterns of Zgainski as he grew closer to the present. You go to some woods, an ancient forest temple, and then walk through a treacherous jungle solving puzzles as you go. The idea is to explore this world to find out how it relates to the real one, pondering the message hidden inside the puzzles.
What Zgainski reckons that Rituals is ultimately about is the relationship between civilisation and nature. And he wants to get this across through gameplay and interaction rather than telling it with words. You can find out more about it on its website.
