Ether One, you may recall, was indie outfit White Paper Games' debut venture in 2014—an interesting Myst-like puzzler that explored themes of dementia. The Manchester-based studio's next game boasts a similarly intriguing premise: The Occupation is a "politically driven, first-person, narrative game set in 1980’s North-West England in which you play as a whistleblowing journalist."
It's just been announced and while we don't have too much to go on just yet, it does come with the following trailer—which PCG UK mag editor Samuel says "looks like a deeply British BioShock Infinite. With no combat. Or flying city. Or cake in bins."
Have a gander for yourself, but at this stage I reckon that seems pretty bang on:
Here's a little more on that as per the game's site:
"A terrorist attack has left 23 dead and has become a catalyst for the creation of The Union Act. A controversial act which threatens the civil liberties of the British population.
"The day is October 24th 1987 and the next 4 hours will determine the outcome of the act and the future of the country. Events happen in real-time and you must make decisions based on the evidence surrounding you.
"Is the cost of an extreme action outweighed by the cause of the greater good. You are the reporter. You decide the narrative."
Bound by its idiosyncratic slant on dementia, the dev's last game Ether One was as much about exploring its vibrant world as it was about puzzle solving, and I hope this carries over into The Occupation.
The above trailer suggests it'll be more hands-on than its forerunner, but against its whistleblowing, terrorism, and politically unstable 1980's Britain themes—a time when the country was consumed by rioting in reality—I'm pretty confident White Paper will weave a similarly deep and engaging narrative into this one.
