Every player has a dream game, or at least has thought of a million ways to improve those great games out there. My dream game is a MOBA where you could…

No, wait, come back, I’m kidding. The world doesn’t need any more MOBAs, right?

Now seriously, as a fan of in-depth storylines and sadly lacking the time and mindset to play those endless, life-consuming RPGs, my dream game would be a simple – so to speak – adventure set in the real world, but with supernatural elements. I mean, who among you never dared to dream about discovering superpowers and using them for the great good/greater evil?

Wait, that does sound somewhat familiar…

It’s probably because it is, but it doesn’t end there. The obvious inspiration for my dream game would be Life is Strange – a regular person (man or woman), used to his daily routine and dull activities, suddenly discovers/triggers a special ability that could change his fate and the one of everyone around him. The plot would see him change from an average Joe into a person that is known worldwide, either adored or loathed. Usually both.

However, choices! Unlike the aforementioned inspiration, my dream game – which I could call something like Inner Struggle, out of my head – your actions would have actual consequences and turn your world upside down, even more considering that your character has a job, a husband/wife and a baby. That aspect alone would play a larger part in the plot, as you would potentially be placing them at risk with your decisions. Having a superpower could be the greatest gift and the utmost punishment at the same time.

Now let’s get into a general description of the dream game – Inner Struggle, remember? –, which wouldn’t be in any sort some sort of Marvel-inspired game or something. I’m not a fan of superhero comic books or movies (apart from some spectacular action scenes), so it wouldn’t be all flashy and shallow, instead being more grounded, more realistic, with your character being an exceptional creature without any equal.

The setting

I don’t know about you, but I’m bored to death of fantasy and blatantly dull sci-fi environments and lore. I can’t be bothered to tell one Destiny from an Anthem, or a Dragon Age from an Elder Scrolls. As odd as it may seem, I think there is a severe lack of games based on our current days, our “normality”, which is so rich and such an incredible nightmare fuel for the most amazing stories – hence Stranger than Fiction.

One of the things that caught my eye about Max Payne was the gritty metropolitan setting, which felt fresh, against all odds. My dream game would be set in a busy metropolis, with occasional visits to more bucolic locations, such as farms or the occasional ruins. It would feature changing weather to bring diversity to the character’s daily routine and conversations with NPCs – because nowadays you can get thunderstorms one day and have an incredibly sunny day the next. The city would be open world and you could drive your vehicle wherever you wanted to – think of it of a Grand Theft Auto but without all that theft.

In fact, I could say that my dream game would take elements from Life is Strange (for the special power), GTA (for the busy open world location) and some sprinklings from Quantic Dream – not the Fahrenheit madness, mind, but the conflicted choices and no-return options.

The mechanics

You would play the game in third-person, because this perspective gives you a good look of the game world while never forgetting about who you are and how you look. A sprint option is available outside of your home and other confined spaces, but doing this in a crowded place would grab everyone’s attention, turning their heads to look at your desperate running – a small detail that I find missing in many games, as it’s not usual for someone to normally run around without raising suspicion.

There would be no violence apart from the set pieces where you would get into some fistfights, and some thrilling on-foot chasing through alleys and backyards. Definitely no quick-time events (as in press left, press right, press left and so on), but you would have some timed scenes where you only have a few seconds to decide what to do – pause button disabled during these scenes, sorry guys, no cheating!

My dream game would feature a heavy dose of investigation; talking to NPCs, picking up the pieces of a puzzle and making sense of it, so you could discover where to go next and how to act. You wouldn’t be spoon-fed, that’s for sure.

The superpower

This one is obviously debatable and deciding what to make of it may drastically affect the way that the game and the story unfold. I’m pending towards teleportation, a superpower that would allow you to appear from thin air in certain locations within a predefined range. The idea is to have these set pieces where your timely intervention would shift the balance in favor of good or evil.

For example, a bank robbery (you could appear and stop the robbers, or just help them out); arson (would you stop the fire or let it happen); a hostage situation (no need to describe), among others. Your investigative skills would determine if you were able to find these crime scenes in time, for which you had access to a police terminal – because, thankfully, your brother is a cop and conveniently has access to these tools. Along with your wife, they are the only ones who know your secret, as you put on a mask to cover your identity while using your ability. Nothing fancy or inspired by an insect/animal/god (pick one cliché), just something that you designed in ten minutes without really thinking too much about it.

It would be extremely easy to break such a game if you could use your superpower at will, so there must be some limitation at play. Since you just discovered it and can’t exactly explain how it happened or how you control it, you would be limited to using it for these important events; otherwise, appearing inside the women’s locker room would probably be the favorite activity of 99% of male players.

The choices

Choices are the main element of this game. Although they are based on a straightforward good vs. evil system, these would completely redefine your experience. Going for the good path would allow you to keep your marriage and be admired by everyone, while choosing the evil path would turn your city into a dark, desperate place where people feel unsafe and scared. And obviously, divorce and a life of loneliness.

A moral compass would tell you where you stand at all times, and while you could choose to perform a good action followed by an evil deed, whatever happened before would most likely be definitive and impossible to change, as your path is now carved in stone. Your every single action has consequences…

The consequences

As I’ve explained earlier, being mostly good would mean wonders to your family life, but every single bit of your life and identity will eventually be dissected and discovered by some real scumbags. These criminals see you as a major hurdle for their business and conspire to take you out of the picture. How?

By kidnapping your wife and/or daughter. Being good would eventually place in the most dreaded situation of all, where you would have to use all your skills to discover where they took them and how you could save them. Remember that these crooks know about your superpower and would surely be waiting for you, back against the wall, taking turns. This would be the climax of the game for the good path.

The conclusion

This is my extremely simplified draft of my dream game. I honestly haven’t thought that much about the technicalities, but I have a very clear idea about how it would look and play. It’s an adventure and it could easily come from the mind of a Dontnod, Telltale or Quantic Dream designer, with a heavy focus on atmosphere and storyline. There would be a build up to your big discovery, friends lost and deceptions as you go, in the same way that good movies keep you thrilled and guessing.

My dream game isn’t one for stats lovers or for those who are looking for relentless action and endless loot; it would be akin to reading a good book where you are the hero or watching a thrilling movie. It wouldn’t be a superhero game by any means, just like the movie Chronicle wasn’t about superheroes, instead focusing on regular people gifted with extremely dangerous powers. It’s about how you would cope with them.

My dream game is about a drastic, remarkable change in your life and what you would do about it.

Written for the “Describe your dream game” contest by @enjar from the Archdruid community. Images fully licensed from freepik.com

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