Earlier in the month I was lucky enough to get to spend some time with three members of Pewter Games, specifically with a short demo of their upcoming title The Little Acre – a point ‘n’ click game that plays on a few of the genre conventions, and also adds a child-like magic to what essentially becomes a science-fantasy adventure.
There are two decades which dominate the game. Firstly, the setting of the game, the 1950’s, a turbulent time, notoriously challenging for the working class due to widespread work shortages, and major unemployment. The country was in the throes of both an infrastructural revolution, and also an actual revolution, with The Troubles about to come to boiling point.
Secondly -and in my opinion, most importantly- is the 1980’s. Chris Conlan, one of the developers who showed me through a cross-section of the game, specifically named a couple of films as heavy influences; The Neverending Story, and Labyrinth. Both films focused on a child’s journey into strange, quirky worlds, each as deadly as they are wonderful. Normally as part of a rejection of a part of their own lives, although that part certainly doesn’t seem to be reflected in the game from what has been shown so far.
Charles Cecil of Revolution Software -who serves as an executive producer on the title- also drew an important line to the 1980’s in a brief comparison to the team’s art style to that of “All Dogs Go To Heaven”. A Don Bluth (Sullivan Bluth) production that had released in the decade. The mention wasn’t coincidental; as the core design and animation team had attended Ballyfermot College, Ireland, on a course initially funded by Bluth & Co in order to create a place for those who were talented in hand drawn animation to hone and finesse their abilities. Charles’ own history was linked heavily between Ballyfemot & Bluth, as Revolution Software’s most iconic property, Broken Sword, and it’s art style was heavily influenced by Bluth Studios’ alumni Eoghan Cahill and Neil Breen.
Almost anyone over the age of 25 will likely already be familiar with work tied to Don Bluth outside of that which I’ve already mentioned; indeed almost every console over the last 30 years has been graced with Dragon’s Lair in some shape or form, from DVD game through to last-gen consoles, and also included in his feature films that he worked on there’s An American Tail, The Land Before Time, and -much later- Anastasia. All of the projects are recognisable by the smooth, high frame-rate, hand-drawn animation.
The Little Acre’s story revolves around three family members across three generations; young Lily, voiced by Kate Clavin, an animator on the team; her father Aiden, voiced by YouTuber ‘The Gaming Terroriser‘; and Aiden’s father, an aged tinkerer who has been mysteriously whisked away by one of his experiments to Clonfira, the alternate dimension that serves as a second setting for the game.
While 1950’s Ireland is grim for it’s own reason, as earlier stated, the world of Clonfira is also in a dire state. It’s curious, deadly flora and fauna, peculiar humanoid residents, and ruined relics of humanity contrast it steeply to the passive, peaceful green hills and electric dam of Ireland. Further highlighting this different is the actual viewpoint on which we view the game; Aiden’s home and the surrounding area are viewed in the classic adventure viewpoint of side-on 2D. Clonfira however, as you can see in the various screenshots dotted through the article, is viewed from an isometric viewpoint, serving to dwarf the character in this curious, deadly place.
Of course, Lily is already small, so to her character this is just another place to explore and have fun. Aiden, as a character, seems to be in a perpetual state of rescuing someone be it his father, or daughter. Lily’s place in the game is one of exploration, and childish righteousness. Her journey is pockmarked with near-death experiences that she is hardly aware of, her companions -family dog Dougal in Ireland, and Miazaki-esque caterpillar Bugsy in Clonfira- humourously, entertainingly, and tirelessly bounding to the rescue in the nick of time like guardian angels.
It’s in the hand-drawn animation of these mascot characters, and of the various animals dotted throughout the gameworld that the game really shines; from the mice and cats in Ireland through to the bat-squirrel hybrid – or “Birrel” as Lily would put it – in Clonfira. Seemingly aware of this, the developers have given ample screen time to the creatures, at at least as far as I can tell from the 10-or-so-minutes I saw with the developers, a few trailers, and some streamed footage from earlier in the year.
In fact, I would say that the animals of the game were directly related to about half of the interactions partaken during the demo, most of which were logical (albeit, in some cases not immediately obvious) application of limited inventory items. I stress both limited, and logical, as they were elements of the game discussed with the members of the team in attendance. Puzzles in the game are all built with logical solutions – with a multiple-step puzzle that was showcased not resetting to the original state should the player fail to immediately realise the solution to the puzzle. This serves to maintain game pacing; although the game is loaded – as one would hope – with filler text when incorrect selections and uses are made.
The demo time ended with Aiden powering up a gauntlet to re-enter Clonfira as to rescue Lily, who had herself entered to try and rescue him. From snippets of story through aforementioned streams and trailers it’s clear that the gauntlet plays an important role in how Aiden solves puzzles and navigates the strange fae world; as, much like the world’s inhabitants, it extracts energy from living things. Unlike those creatures however, it can re-purpose that energy, and as such it’s property, onto other objects. Transferal of abstract concepts like lethargy, attractiveness serve as his solutions.
After the end of the playthrough the developer who had played through at my behest placed down the mouse and keyboard and instead picked up a controller to demonstrate console controls. As an interesting choice the character in the console versions of the game is controlled directly, walked around by the analogue stick with button pop-ups occurring when the player character walks near interactive objects. It was an interesting control scheme, that I wasn’t expecting to see, but can see how they came to the decision about implementing; it was immediately reminiscent of the system used in Telltale Games, a system that is certainly proven when it comes to successful console implementation.
While at times the screens of the game world felt a little bare of objects, the animation, voice acting, and writing did a great joke of keeping attention on progressing the game. There’s also a fair few nods to Broken Sword, as Charles joked in his introduction. While my time with the game was short, I then proceeded to search around for every scrap I could find of the game online; that peaked is my interest.
The Little Acre is currently in development for PC, PS4 & Xbox One, and is expected to launch simultaneously on these platforms before the end of the year.
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