Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Preview

PAX 2007 Preview

Hothead Games, the company behind the Gabe and Tycho characters, is returning to the PC market with an episodic game that brings the panels often associated with comic book panels to animated life.

Precipice of Darkness begins innocently enough. Players are asked to create a custom avatar, which is then displayed throughout the game and in the game’s cut scenes. As the opening scene shows, you are sedately raking leaves in the front yard of your 1920s-style home when a giant shadow looms over the yard. Looking up, you see a giant robot that brings a huge foot down, crushing your house into a pancake.

The robot, apparently nonplussed by the destruction it caused, moves off down the street. That’s where the opening cut scene ends and the game begins. You follow the robot down the street and eventually hook up with Gabe and Tycho (Penny Arcade creators Mike “Gabe” Krahulik and Jerry “Tycho” Holkins), who are not only there to help you track the giant metallic destructor but to help you find new lodgings.

Joel DeYoung, the Chief Operating Officer for Hothead, said that “episodic is new to us, so we are working on it methodically.”

What that means is that new episodes will trickle down every 3-4 months, after the game is released and the time frame for that still has not been nailed down. Each episode is expected to last between five and six hours.

 The game is a classic point-and-click adventure with cartoon style panels holding the animation. There is also an RPG element to the combat. But lest you think that the game is all a two-dimensional affair, think again. There is a strong 3D gameplay element as well and the cut scenes are the two-dimensional elements..

Other features include the ability to track your character’s statistics and unlock new abilities and carry those skills through the new episodes; over-the-top mayhem against outrageous enemies; and turn-based combat.

The look of the game is fun and the game’s effects are well done. While not a lot of information was available at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, this seems to be a game that should bring some irreverent humor and entertainment to the PC gaming world.