I’m a big fan of stealth games. Convoluted plot aside the Metal Gear Solid series is one of my favorite games. But I have yet to play one where the missions are told from the viewpoint of the person on the other end of the communications gear. Until now that is. Hush-Hush 229 is being touted as a stealth visual novel where you play as the analyst in charge of support and saving the game of the field operatives. It sounds like a strange combination of play styles but judging on what has been shown this might actually work.
In Hush-Hush 229 you’re in control of Candy Clark as she plays support for two operatives in the field as they work together to find and rescue a senator’s daughter all the while taking out a group of essentially terrorists and their super secret nuclear arsenal. You may not be the ones on the firing line but one thing that I learned while playing “tactical espionage action” games it’s that a successful mission requires the whole team to work together to take down the enemy.
Candy’s only weapon is communications. It’s her job to guide the operatives through the base, avoiding soldiers and taking them out via security cameras littered throughout the facility. It’s also her job to “save their game” and offer advice. And your relationship with them affects how, of even if, they listen to you. I love a story that takes something familiar and does a full 180. How the stealth aspects of Hush-Hush 229 play out remains to be seen but overall this sounds like a unique and interesting take on two disparate genres. Two genres that I thoroughly enjoy. Whether I back this one or not I know that I want to see where they take it.
Track the progress of the Hush-Hush 229 Kickstarter in our Campaign Calendar.
[…] don’t get to partake in any of the action? Seemed lame at first. But after reading the article on Cliqist… the idea of micromanaging different aspects of the mission to ensure the safety of the […]
“But I have yet to play one where the missions are told from the
viewpoint of the person on the other end of the communications gear.”
Erm, didn’t Republique already do something very similar? It’s not a completed game yet, and the way they’ve released a “remaster” consisting of only three episodes is pretty weird, and kind of self-defeating, but other than that, it’s apparently a pretty good game.
http://steamspy.com/search.php?s=republique
http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2015/03/02/review-republique-remastered-episodes-1-3/136970/
And while the story of Republique is apparently relatively weak, being more of a generic dystopia thing, it still sounds a lot better than what’s on offer here. Terrorist group “Rebel Rebel” have held a globally renowned scientist for several years at an “abandoned” base that’s also a day’s ride away from a city with 300,000 population? It would’ve been levelled to the ground the day word got out of their existence; certainly before they kidnapped a Senator’s daughter for some reason. Sure, it promises more twists and such, but it’s going to be rather hard to salvage in the promised 3-4 hour playtime.
Yeah, Metal Gear also has highly suspicious plots, but it serves them with more style, and there are also the characters. This Kickstarter can’t even give us names of the two agents under your control, much less tell us anything about them, and they’re supposed to be the key characters here. And the main character is named Candy Clark? I know this is shallow, but it’s honestly a pretty white trash name. Imagine watching Jason Bourne if the main character was called something like Bob Hodge, and you’ll get the idea.
Still, at least I learned what “lacuna” is today from their page, so that’s something.