Demo stumps for President Rocket Game

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Classic-styled point-and-click spoof adventure to get Kickstarter campaign early next year

Sometimes the state of our world seems so desperate that all you can do is laugh at the absurdity of it all. Gloho Games certainly thinks so, as they're hard at work on their debut offering, a classic-styled parody of our times called President Rocket Game.

Having sailed passed the point of no return, world leaders finally recognize that the planet is on the cusp of "total climate breakdown." Yet even now, a powerful alliance known as the Autocratic Five is "sabotaging every effort" to halt impending disaster. Perhaps the last hope is an orbiting space station called Starshield, led by German tech mogul Daniel Brunner. The problem is, Brunner needs the support of the Autocratic Five to finance the operation, so he intends to make them the first ever civilians to fly there on his new rocket in the hope that the "overview effect" will cause them to change their minds.

Not everyone is okay with this plan, of course. Even within Brunner's own company, a "conspiracy of global proportions is unfolding." Climate activists, led by Liv Lundgren, seek to thwart the flight by any means necessary, while another tech giant, Leroy Jefferson, argues that the station will only hasten Earth's demise rather than save it. Its biggest opponent, in more ways than one, is an aggrieved, narcissistic, oddly orange-hued former archconservative president name Dona... I mean, Lloyd Kinksi, who feels entitled to be one of the passengers on this inaugural rocket flight and sets out for Frankenstein, Germany in order to finagle his way aboard. Players will control both "The Prez" and Lundgren throughout the course of the game, though as you can imagine, this unruly president "doesn't like to be controlled," adding a whole new layer of challenge to overcome. It's imperative you do, however, as the fate of the world depends on these extremely different characters somehow learning to work together.

President Rocket Game may be a spoof of modern times, but its design heart is very much in the Golden Age of adventure games, with its pixel art presentation and point-and-click interface. There are two control options to choose from, with both a four-verb SCUMM-style interface and the ability to cycle through active cursors. Promising an "absurd story packed with crazy events," the game will feature a variety of fully voiced, often foul-mouthed characters to interact with (many of whom will share more than a few similarities with real-world personalities) as you navigate both "nerve wrecking and entertaining dialogs" that don't just break through the fourth wall, they obliterate it. There will also be many items to collect and puzzles to solve along the way, some of which have alternate solutions, as well as "meaningful decisions" to make that impact the story and add a degree of replayability. Oh, and deaths, lots of deaths, though always intended to be funny rather than punishing.

In order to finish production of President Rocket Game, the two-person indie German developer is planning a Kickstarter campaign for sometime early next year. There's good news in the meantime, however, as they've just released a playable demo on Steam, available to download for Windows PC.

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