Among the Innocent released on Windows PC

Written by Jack Allin — February 18, 2017 at 12:55

Grief is a terrible thing to experience in real life, but it makes for a powerful motivator in interactive entertainment. We're being reminded of that once again with the PC release of Among the Innocent, the first of a series of related "Stricken Tales" that deal with working through painful personal loss.

Among the Innocent casts players in the role of a struggling writer named Peter York, who finds himself trapped on an abandoned farm in the eastern Free State, South Africa in the year 2001. In your attempt to escape, you will need to "keep your wits together as you explore the bleak landscape and uncover (and maybe even solve) the many mysteries that lie in dark corners."

Described by indie studio Zero Degrees Games as a "first-person thriller adventure game," Among the Innocent tasks players with freely exploring twelve acres of 3D farmland, but the gameplay is "heavily inspired by classic point-and-click adventure games of the 1990s," so you'll find yourself examining important hotspots, collecting inventory objects, and solving puzzles along the way. Although the visuals promise to feature dark themes and a "strong horror and thriller aesthetic," the horror here is mainly psychological, in keeping with the dark themes of heartbreak and despair.

Available now on Steam for Windows PC, Among the Innocent is a standalone game, but also represents the first of a five-part series, each of which is "inspired by a stage in the Kübler-Ross model for dealing with grief and loss." Together, the five installments will "form an expansive narrative across multiple decades, characters, and stories both individual and connected."

To learn more about the game and the larger Stricken Tales project, there's a playable PC demo of Among the Innocent on the official website.