Ama’s Lullaby strikes the right chord on Kickstarter

Written by K R Parkinson — March 28, 2017 at 11:45

When you think “cyberpunk,” the name “Blade Runner” usually isn’t far behind. Citing the cult favorite from Westwood Studios as an inspiration, indie developers Mercy Ground Creations are hoping to add their own successfully Kickstarted project Ama’s Lullaby to the list of popular cyberpunk adventures, though not for another two more years.

Ama’s Lullaby is set in a post-apocalyptic future where Earth is threatened by an asteroid impact. The eponymous Ama, “a young computer-science prodigy,” and her father create an AI that leads a space mission to construct a colony on another planet and relocate humanity there. Ama is now an “ambassador for the human race,” and is “being protected by her artificial creature.” However, when she discovers the “actual reason for her presence in this colony, and notices the strange behavior of its inhabitants, her world suddenly falls apart.”

Played from a third-person perspective in real-time 3D with point-and-click controls, gamers will “explore the colony, meet its human and non-human inhabitants, negotiate with the AI and make decisions that will impact directly the course of events.” The colony is “ruled by numerous networks, either independent or connected to each other,” and thus command line-based hacking will be a central gameplay mechanic, enabling you to gain access to various resources, “launch programs, connect to protected networks by forcing their firewalls, [and] copy or delete files” along the way.

A dialogue system will allow for player choice: the developers indicate that “asking as many questions as possible won’t lead you any further, you’ll have to pick them carefully and anticipate the consequences.” An intriguing tease hints that the characters will also change their behavior from one “game session” to another, making them “less predictable” and promising some level of replayability. For less-dexterous gamers, it should be noted that fighting sequences will be possible, though “not very frequent.” For instance, if a dialogue sequence goes south, you might have to resort to violence in a “real-time” fighting event, “relying on your reflexes and ability to aim” in order to resolve the dispute.

Ama’s Lullaby is being billed as a “prologue” to more stories set in the same universe, and as such the success of this project sets up the possibility of additional games being produced. However, Mercy Ground Creations stresses that the current title is a full game, “with a beginning and an ending,” and around 20 hours of gameplay. The game is slated for release in spring 2019, and will be available on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms through Steam, as well as DRM-free digital download services. For more information about the game, check out the game’s recently completed Kickstarter page.