I’m an easy guy to charm, but MacGuffin’s Curse by award-winning Australian game company Brawsome is bound to make even the grimmest, most hardcore werewolf fan crack a smile. It’s a “top-down action puzzling and character-based story adventure”, which is really just a gaming PR way of saying “crack for game nerds who like words” (and in this case, werewolves). From the game’s IndieDB page:
When fugitive magician Lucas MacGuffin bungles a museum robbery, he finds himself:
(a) magically bound to an ancient amulet;
(b) up against a city in full high-tech security lockdown; and
(c) suddenly dealing with the worst body hair problems he’s ever had.As a human, Lucas is agile and cunning. Wolf Lucas would rather smash anything in his way. Only by transforming between the two forms and cleverly utilising both sets of skills will he stand any chance of lifting his curse.
Brawsome’s previous game, Jolly Rover, won much acclaim (and “Best Australian Game” at the 2010 Freeplay Awards) in part for its clever writing, so I’m not surprised that this new game has a title that’s basically an ouroboros of storytelling delight. Here’s a few screenshots, showing Lucas in both shapes, gameplay and cutscene-style:
I love the hand-drawn artwork, and the animation has got some satisfying flourishes. I’m definitely going to pick this up when it comes out (April 19th on Steam, for OS X and Windows, and there’s an iPad version in the works). You can follow the game’s development on its site, its Facebook page, or on Twitter via @brawsome.
“MacGuffin’s” curse. Pfffft. Awesome.