Open Road is a game about a mother and daughter, with lots of ‘Sad Dead’ waiting

For an industry that has ads – Cretos and Joel, videos have very meaningful roles for moms. Moms don’t exist, but they’re mostly dead moms, bad moms, or missing moms; Moms Ms are just for a hero to play there. The evolution of family relationships in video games is changing, and at least one indie design team has decided to take on the story of meaningful motherhood.

“There have been a lot of sad fathers,” Fulbright co-founder Steve Genore told Polygon. “It simply came to our notice then. But now it’s just mom’s hours. “

A team of designers and writers at Genor and Fulbright are creating a video game, Open roads, About a teenage girl and her mom. The game, expected in 2021, was released in December and stars Carrie Russell Stars (Americans) And Caitlin Diver (Bookmart). Ganor described Open roads As “Mother-Daughter Road Trip Adventure Game”. It is, in many ways, a very complete flower game, it is about exploring the environment and exploring through the things for a person’s story.

Image: Fullbite

But the big difference between Open roads And the first two games of Fulbyte, Gone home And Tacoma, That there are now two characters in the space: O Paul, Mom and Tess, daughter. “What if there’s another character in the room who’s experiencing these things with you?” Genore asked.

Opportunity, then, is in another perspective – one that only makes a meaningful impact on the story due to their presence in one space and their relationship with the other character. Players will operate as Tess on a road trip with her mom, a trip that results from Grandma’s death. The material that Tess rifles go through belongs to her grandmother and through that process she learns a little bit about the family’s past, some of which are surprising.

“You’re highlighting these events that were part of your family history, but you’re navigating your relationship with your mom, through your reactions, through conversations with her, and finding those characters, as much as you’ve been looking for. This is the story, “Ganor explained.

Image: Fullbite

It seems Open roads Pal Pal and Tess are less about the mystery behind anything that arises, but instead focus more on their relationship. Mystery is the backdrop for a relationship, something to push and pull towards it.

The other big part of the story is its 2003-era setting, Ganor said. The period from which to make a decision from a technical point of view was important; This is a game about a road trip, it will be very different if you can drag the map on your smartphone. In 2003, you could still have a cellphone – but all you could do with it was play and play. Snake Or, if you’re lucky, send texts. “But your mom printed the MapQuest directions before you left,” Genore added.

It’s also an era that seems nostalgic now, as well as strangely similar to 2021. Open roads Is a game whose development, in part, will take place during 2020, a year that people will remember for its enormous wildfires, racial reckoning and isolated epidemics. The year will come out as one of those major periods of our lives; Now before 2020 and after 2020. 2003 felt the same; In the post-9/11 post-Iraq war, Genore said. “It was still a lot, ‘Support the soldiers’ and ‘Never forget’, which was a national – international – moment.”

Image: Fullbite

Genore called it a “sad echo” with the past that emerged naturally over a year ago.

“The feeling of being able to draw from the moment we are in, the uncertainty and the instability and feeling of public life that seems to suit the duration of the game,” said Genore.

Open roads It is expected to be released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC and Xbox Series X in 2021.