If you're a fan of Twin Peaks, you're probably already aware that the series is finally coming to Bluray in its entirety – including the never-before-seen three hour cut of David Lynch's movie prequel/sequel/who-the-hell-knows Fire Walk With Me, the deleted scenes of which have been evidently mired in legal rights issues for over two decades. For Lynch fans, this is great news (as is the fact that the auteur also apparently went back and shot more new material for the show, perhaps to go with Laura's promised to Coop that she'd see him in 25 years. Any more of Lynch's bizarre and disturbing world is undoubtedly a good thing.
Virginia doesn't actually have anything to do with Lynch or Twin Peaks, unless you count the cultural impact the show, as well as other weird '90s television in a similar vein (i.e., The X-Files) had on surrealist narrative as a whole. It certainly takes some cues from Lynch's series that he co-created with Mark Frost, with you taking on the role of an FBI agent investigating the recent disappearance of a missing boy, which of course leads to much bigger – and presumably weirder – problems.
Unlike The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, another creatively-minded new indie title that has a very similar premise (and moreover whose promise of brutal forensic imagery and overall design make it feel more like a dyed-in-the-wool adventure game), Virginia devs Variable State appear to be going for a feel closer to a film. That means a much greater emphasis on narrative – not choice – and experience. The game isn't even being called a game by Variable State, but an interactive drama.
Virginia is also being designed to be engaging over "fun," arguably another important distinction both for the kind of story the game seems to be. What does that entail? Having a lot of conversations with people and perhaps not doing much that's "game-y".
"I'm not really sure I want people to 'enjoy' the game per say," developer Jonathan Burroughs recently said in an interview with The Verge. "I'd much rather it makes them feel something a game has never made them feel before."
Like Lynch explaining that coffee can be an art spirit, it all sounds like a wonderful idea. With the dev team's experience – Variable State is made up of former triple-A devs (Burroughs came from EA, the studio's other head Terry Kenny, hailed from Rockstar) – hopefully they'll be able to pull off something fascinating and wholly their own. Virginia hits PC sometime next year; hit the link below to read the whole interview with Burroughs.
[Via The Verge]
