Hill Agency: BARK & byte is a unique game right off the bat: a futuristic cyber-noir detective game with an entirely indigenous cast. The game is currently campaigning on Kickstarter and its imaginative world has already generated a lot of interest. It even managed to make over half of it’s goal of $10,000CA.
Set in 2262 in one of the last remaining cities in North America, you play as private investigator Meeygun Hill. Must of your time is taken up by divorce cases and the odd missing child, until one day a woman shows up at your office and drops a murder case into your lap.
You start off investigating the death of her sister, but you soon learn that the case is much bigger. You find yourself drawn into a world of mind-wiping drugs and flying palaces.
Use Your Head
Hill Agency is a narrative detective game in the same vein as Oxenfree and The Shiva. The game has you gather evidence, interview suspects, and put together a case in order to make accusations.
In the campaign video, the lead designer Meagan Byrne explained that she didn’t want gameplay to revolve around violence. You’ll use only your brain to solve this mystery. Accusations are only rejected if the evidence isn’t strong enough, not if they’re wrong – so be careful about who you accuse.
One of Hill Agency‘s stand-out features is its unique art style. The hand-drawn, stylized character designs are compelling and packed with personality. The grayscale characters enhance the game’s noir feel against the colorful city background.
Humble Beginnings
The game is developed by indigenous video game company Achimo Games, with the goal of creating games that tell original indigenous stories. Hill Agency first got its start as PURITY & decay, a DMG Feb Fatale prototype. This prototype ended up making its way to the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. Now the dev team are looking to take the game to the next level.
The game is still in its early stages, and we mean really early. As the Kickstarter page shows, the money raised by the campaign will go towards creating a polished prototype of the game. The devs state that this prototype will be used to secure a publisher and further funding to create the game.
With that in mind, it looks like it’ll be a long time before Hill Agency: BARK & byte comes to life, even if it does reach its Kickstarter goal. But with such a creative concept, we hope that it finds its way to becoming fully realized. If you’re interested in backing the game, check out Hill Agency’s demo trailer below.
