Taneisha of the We The Nerdy interviewed Cecilia Boston, founder of the upcoming horror ‘food’ RPG game Gorge. Gorge is an RPG about a young woman who finds herself trapped in a dark version of her hometown, taken over by shadowy spirits. Check out Gorge’s Kickstarter to help support production!
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We The Nerdy: What can gamers expect when playing Gorge?
Ceilia Bishton: This is corny, but players should expect the unexpected. You are put in the shoes of the main character, Etoile, and like her, you initially have no idea what’s going on. All you know is that your world has changed and seems very dangerous—deadly traps are everywhere, and you are bound to meet fatal ends many times along your journey. The plot and characters are a big part of Gorge, and much of the gameplay is finding out the truth behind your situation while working towards your goal of finding your way home.
Gorge’s story was inspired by puzzle films and asks the player to actively join Etoile in unraveling the mystery with every twist and turn. Even the most unexpected things can happen in the magical world of the cursed gorge. Along the way, Etoile will encounter many strange situations (although I don’t want to spoil anything). Expect a lot of puzzling, running, talking, hiding, and making tough decisions as you help Etoile survive the gorge.
WTN: Were traditional RPG’s such as Lunar: Eternal Blue an inspiration for Gorge’s art style?
C.B.: The pixel art style (as well as gameplay) was inspired by horror classics like Ib, The Witch’s House, and Ao Oni, all [of] which told riveting and terrifying tales with retro-styled pixel art. I grew up playing handheld games like Legend of Zelda and F, and would never dream of underestimating the power of the pixel. After all, even with simpler graphics, it is the story and the characters that really stay with the player after the game is done.
Using a simple art style also has a functional benefit by allowing me to produce the game much faster. Keeping the scope in check has definitely been an important goal for me as a one-person-team. Besides that, I think the pixel-styled art adds a lot of charm and humor to a game that is otherwise very bleak, unsettling, and bizarre. It’s also balanced out with illustrations, such as the character’s speaking portraits and the illustrations that come up throughout the cutscenes in the storyline [which help] give the player a sense of how Etoile is seeing things.
WTN: What is the main focus of the game revolving around food?
C.B.: Food is everywhere in Gorge. The nine “dungeons” are based on common eateries, the first being a creepy bakery, followed by a spooky grocery, and a mazelike bar (you’ll have to play if you want to know the rest, although I’m sure you can guess some!). As you can imagine, there are all kinds of food in these dungeons: rotting food, food that is being cooked, poisoned food, raw food, indigested food (yuck), and more. It’s often incorporated into the puzzles and traps that you encounter throughout the dungeons, although many times not in the way you would expect.
Along with the physical food and eateries, Gorge touches on other aspects of the culinary world such as the act of cooking, eating, serving, digesting, hunger, gluttony, and survival through the other characters you meet and the challenges you face. The social aspects of food, such as the joy of sharing a meal with a loved one, the associations that come with certain foods, and people’s relationship with food, come up as well.
WTN: Can you describe the puzzles in the game a little more? What does each puzzle entail?
C.B.: The puzzles throughout the dungeons are all very different and ask different things of the player, whether its reflexes, sharp eyes, logic skills, or creativity/thinking outside the box. Many involve the use of key items; Etoile can pick up objects and tools she finds throughout the game and use them to interact with her environment. Players who go out of their way to explore and investigate their surroundings as well as players with good observational skills will be well-equipped for survival in the gorge.
Some examples of challenges include escaping a dangerous room before the time runs out, finding a place to hide, and assembling items to create an explosive weapon. Along with all these trials to overcome, the big puzzle in the game consists of the decisions you make that affects what kind of experience you’ll have.
WTN: Are players able to choose their own fates in this RPG? If so, how?
C.B.: Definitely. Throughout the story, you will have many big choices to make. Some of them will be easy, while others not so much. The actions you choose for Etoile directly affect what experience you have. For example, there is one dungeon where depending on the choice you make in the beginning, you can completely skip over the middle section. However, although you skip over puzzles and even a deadly trap, you also skip over the chance to obtain an item that can help you later on in the game. So although you may not realize it at the time, the choices you make can change how your story unravels.
NPCs will also remember what decisions you make and react accordingly, sometimes in your favor and sometimes not. One of the stretch goals for the Kickstarter campaign is alternate endings as well. The idea is that while there is one canonical ending, your playthrough would have an ending that depended on the decisions you made during the playthrough, exploring the different possibilities of your fate from the best to the very worst!
To take a more in debt look at Gorge, be sure to look at the official website.
