James Renoir used to be a detective. Unfortunately, his work finally caught up with him one day as he is gunned down when trying to speak with an informant. But that’s not where his journey ends. Somehow, he wakes up later despite being, well, dead. This is where players begin in RENOIR and utilize James’ new found powers. It’s definitely an interesting setup and one that fits well with the visual noir aesthetic. There’s more to this death aspect than just the story, as it actually works into how players explore the world and the puzzles they’ll come across.
RENOIR plays out as a 2D puzzle platformer with some intriguing aspects. For one, poor James can no longer stand in direct like. This proves a big issue when trying to explore areas, but luckily, he’s not alone. When exploring areas he will be able to see and interact with the spirits of other dead folk. This results in puzzles which require players to manipulate one or more ghosts to do certain actions before actually proceeding through them. Once the ghosts have been setup, the player will be able to move James safely (provided players set up the ghosts properly, of course).
For whatever reason developer Soulbound Games didn’t place a pitch video in the typical slot, but you just need to scroll down a tad to see it. RENOIR requires approximately $61,279 (converted from Pounds) in Kickstarter funding to succeed. If and when that happens, we’ll see RENOIR come to PC (Windows/Mac/Linux), PS4, and Xbox One.
Track the progress of the RENOIR Kickstarter our Campaign Calendar.
Looks interesting, but I’m not filled with confidence knowing that there is no video. Oh what the heck, I’ll click on the link and check out the kickstarter.
Update: Theres one video and one trailer, the project looks even more interesting 🙂