PEGBRJE: The Rainsdowne Players and Ganbare! Super Strikers
Fusions of GAMES.
The Rainsdowne Players is a narrative theatrical extravaganza by Steve O’Gorman, indie dev of the UK. Players get to follow the life and times of two actors (named by the players themselves) as they create the plays that they will perform within the theatre they live in, dubbed ‘on the wrong side of the river’. At least the audience is fully engaged with the play, by which I mean they will actively throw physical objects at the duo during their performance.
These Rainsdowne performers have two objectives; survive the performances, and gauge interest in plays and inspirations from the audience and locals afterwards. During performances, players will watch both of the actors as they perform the play scripted beforehand, while watching for audience members who bring various missile weaponry to throw at them. At first, simple water bottles are thrown at the member that corresponds with which side the audience member was on; right attacks right, left attacks left. Once irate theatre-goers get creative is when they start bringing paper airplanes, rocks and tomatoes which all have different trajectories. Tomatoes, for example, go to the opposite side of the stage thrown, while paper airplanes understandably have a chance to miss everyone and sail high into the sky. Performances only last a minute or so, but the more the duo is hit the less likely they will make it big so attempting to keep them safe is a top priority.
Rainsdowne itself opens up after the performances, where players can control one of the two actors to go out into the town and interact with the audience and townsfolk. Both of them have different personalities and ways of engagement, so some locals may converse differently. The goal with this mode is two-fold; understanding the interests of the locals and gaining inspiration for other theatrical plots. The townspeople want differing things, and by interacting with them the actors can learn which plays they can craft to draw in more audience members to keep the place afloat. There are dozens of people, so thankfully there is a book in the back that records all of the interests that people are looking for. It’s these interactions that drive the game forward, forcing players to go out and talk with not just one but both actors in the hopes of gaining inspiration or just learning what the people are thinking/feeling. Sure, there are a few sour apples such as the man in the corner that straight hates everything produced, but they’re the group that’s throwing things at actors so I’m not entirely sure their opinion counts.
Conversing with the locals is also how the two gain their plot ideas for upcoming plays in the form of inspirational cards. These can include a sandwich product placement only to have the protagonist die with the sandwich and make the sandwich owner mad to obtain the ‘liar’, or do nothing while fishing to gain the ‘nothing’ card. These then can be used when setting up for the next play, when players must decide on the protagonist, setting, goal, enemy and outcome of the play. As mentioned with the sandwich shop owner, times can occur when players can craft a play that may fit the bill for audience members, yet do so in a negative way. How the show plays out is huge for how those that asked for certain elements will respond to the actors afterwards, and what future cards players can acquire to create more plays and attract more audience members.
The Rainsdowne Players is a much bigger game than I originally anticipated; the more plays the duo do, the wider and broader the world becomes as the two performers attempt to grow their audiences while avoiding projectiles and negative scandals alike. There are dozens of characters of varying hopes, dreams, desires and backgrounds to learn of and explore while dealing with Rainsdowne’s own issues such as it constantly raining, and this doesn’t even begin to cover the loose plot that follows. I’ve never played the titles that O’Gorman states as inspirations (Paper Mario, Majora’s Mask OR Rhythm Tengoku — please don’t hurt me), but from what I know of the titles the first two specifically thrive on their worldbuilding and dialogue. I can’t state whether or not this game is successful as a ‘child’ of the two of them, but I can state that it accomplishes its goal of creating an RPG without the standard attribute tropes and with fantastic dialogue. If you are a fan of any of the inspiration titles, or just want to relive painful memories of theatre school and starting your own troupe of actors then this game is definitely one to try out.
Ganbare! Super Strikers is a tactical soccer game made by rese, a solo dev out of Melbourne Australia. Players can choose between story mode and a multiplayer mode to enter the pitch against AI or against friends in a local multiplayer against friends, where they will play soccer in a slower fashion.
Ganbare! differs from soccer in the sense that while the sport is quite tactical, this version is in a turn-based format. Players will each take turns moving their entire squad of players, each action in their economy taking up one of their two actions in order to execute. Movement is limited to two squares, and passes are fueled by an SP meter similar to stamina in real time soccer games where they become tired if used too frequently, lowering their stats. This stamina is consumed for all activities, with a slight randomizer in power for passes and shots based on stats so that a shot made directly at the goalie isn’t a guaranteed save. Each round that a player completes rolls down the clock by a full minute, filling in as a substitute for an actual clock timer with a half time in between.
Where Ganbare! begins to kick it up a notch is with its RPG elements. Players can level up to gain more stats after matches, increasing their SP and ability bars. The units can also gain special abilities by completing special challenges each match, with status effects being attached to passes and kicks in order the increase their potency. It’s quite fun to watch your enemy miss the block only for them to get punished by being frozen. There are other abilities of course, but it was just satisfying to watch is all. However, these abilities utilize the ‘mana’ bar, so they cannot be used too frequently throughout the game so players must attempt a little resource management within their turn based soccer title.
Ganbare! Super Strikers is another fusion blend of games, introducing turn based RPG elements into a real time soccer match with the success one could expect. The multiplayer mode is a nice touch to allow players to go up against each other, although the solo mode was a tad awkward due to the AI being a tad binary. It’s still in the air as to whether or not I would want more sports to be turn based rather than real time, but the idea is there for any of you that are looking for a sports game that masks as a fantasy RPG.
