Project W.I.P.E.D

Project W.I.P.E.D is a short game that exists mainly to demonstrate the developer’s position-based update to a traditional turn-based combat system. As far as that goal goes, it’s actually pretty good, and its type of combat is something I would like to see more MV games employ.

Storyline



It’s the typical sci-fi/cyberpunk premise of waking up in a facility with your memory wiped, and learning that you are one of five people worked on under the titular project from the mysterious hacker’s voice, who guides you towards the escape. Here, you also have the initial choice between a male (W) or a female (I) protagonist (I went with a female one, since male’s prisoner faceset is realistically unshaven and ugly), although it matters less later on, as after the first few fights they encounter each other and fight, before realizing they need to work together. From then on, it’s a road to the shuttle, past a few more guards and a Warden boss who’s had some history with W that we’ll now never get to know. The ending is a typical sequel hook, as the two escapees name themselves properly and resolve to find the prisoners P, E and D. I suppose the one good touch was I’s initial reluctance to shoot and concern/guilt about the people they had to kill to escape.

I should say that while the game doesn’t really have spelling errors per se, there are a lot of errors with tense and such, of the have/has/had form and the like – so many I eventually didn’t bother recording them. It’s the kind of stuff Word doc underlines in blue or green, and something that should largely be addressed through copy-pasting the game’s lines into it.

Aesthetics (art, design and sound)



It’s mainly RTP, as you can see above. There’s the nearly-traditional clash between the stout figures and the comparatively enormous high-ceilinged rooms, but otherwise it works about as well as could be expected. Some soundtrack apparently comes from this artist, and it’s fine for the sci-fi setting here, though certainly not the greatest I've heard. The icons’ graphics can be recognized from Mass Effect, Dragon Age, etc. The one thing that’s a little distracting is that the “Move Forwards” ability still seems to have the same icon as the “Move Backwards” one, when it should’ve been mirrored, or something.

Gameplay



Yes, the defining principle of the combat is the way each battle screen is effectively divided into your starting side, the enemies’ one, and the “no man’s land”, and both you and the enemies can move either forwards or backwards by one, depending on your current position. It’s a little weird that you can’t do either from the middle: the game will essentially choose for you whether to provide moving forwards or moving backwards ability. It is also a free action (though one with a cooldown), and deciding whether to use it before or after your attacks, if at all, is very important. Obviously, the reason this is important is because of the three weapon types, as shotguns are obviously useless at far ranges, and vice versa for sniper rifles. Assault rifles don’t have such a disparity: they do deal slightly more damage at mid-range, but their 30-40-30 damage spread is clearly nothing when compared to 10-30-50 of a sniper rifle, for instance.

However, this is compensated for by the rifle’s weapon ability, Spray, which happens to be the least useful one on its own. Sure, targeting two random enemies at once sounds nice – until you remember about the shields, that is. Much like the Mass Effect/Halo brand of sci-fi, they will regenerate here, unlike health, and do so at the start of every round. The guards start off with shields when you have just escaped and have nothing, and they’ll soon become stronger than the damage Spray inflicts on its own. Meanwhile, shotgun’s Pulsing Shot pulls the enemy forward towards you and locks them there, to be torn apart over the next few turns, and sniper has an extremely helpful Damping Shot, which is shields-only, but does bonus damage against shields and prevents their regeneration for several turns if it breaches them + applies a damage debuff. Spray’s true value is of a different sort altogether – it’ll double the following damage dealt to the target over that round. Thus, it’s most helpful when you are in a team – or for the enemy’s team.

So, the game lets you choose your main character’s preferred weapon type, and a little later, whether they’ll use heavy or light armour (50 shields and 3-turn movement cooldown, vs. 20 shields and a powerful, but intermittent, Adrenaline Rush.) I always chose sniper rifle for I, and soon settled on light armour, while the game picked heavy armour + assault rifle for W, presumably to match my playstyle (even though as an enemy, he had both doubled shields, and a shotgun.) Regardless of your choice, though, you should prepared to die a few times. After all, the game really embraces the idea that these guards are both better armoured and possess the same weapons, with the same abilities and damage ranges as you do. As such, even the initial one-on-one against a Rifleman can leave you dead. Several following group battles are all different and challenging in their own way, as you are required to really think about buffs, debuffs, cooldowns and enemy’s targeting (you thankfully get to see who will get shot at by whom once your round is over and theirs begins). The enemies’ movements add a dash of unpredictability, too: sometimes, it’s even worth it as a Riflewoman or a Sniper to get into the mid-field and the enemy’s melee range after your own attacks just to avoid the worst of theirs, or vice versa.

Ironically, the boss, who has three stages corresponding to each weapon type, is actually considerably easier than the preceding group fights, as it was simply much easier to control him. Still, it was hardly mindless: just that while earlier battles had the tense kind of challenge, this one was more relaxed and enjoyable, as it was possible to let loose with attacks even while wary of his impressive capabilities. Though the game lets you heal in between each round of that boss fight, I ultimately didn’t need to do so. This healing is done purely via a syringe, of which you get 3 at the start, and which restore 50% health. Pretty much all you can do once any battle is over is to watch whatever dialogue is on screen, inject this healing if you need to, save (occasionally) and move on to the next screen. It’s fine for this kind of a short game, but it does get me wondering whether this format could allow for the more adventure-game elements, almost the way it was done in Darkest Dungeon. A sci-fi JRPG that functions just like Darkest Dungeon on a micro level (with a more defined plot replacing the endless roguelike/economic manager macro aspect) has been a dream of mine for a while, and it now seems possible MV can allow for it. Hell, if the creator of this managed to include shields separate from health, who says it wouldn’t be possible to replicate the Stress?

Conclusion

However, let’s not get too sidetracked. As far as this game goes, it’s simply pretty good, though people used to the typical JRPG level of challenge will certainly take a while to adjust. I understand the limited graphics and the storyline, though I do hope it’ll be updated to be improved in readability.