Time for a first look at Faravid Interactive's Midnight Margo

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Unique side-scrolling adventure with RPG elements unveiled by the co-creator of Whispers of a Machine

Gaming tends to be an escape from everyday life, but what if life were more like a game, one that could help remedy the troubles we face? We'll have the chance to find out early next year, as Petter Ljungqvist of Faravid Interactive has just unveiled his upcoming new game, Midnight Margo.

The eponymous Margo is only a few years out of high scool and not doing well mentally. She has OCD, and a bout of depression forced her to seek help from a psychologist. Now emerging from a lenthy period of seclusion and in recovery, Margo is trying a new coping mechanism – a "mind trick" in which she views her own life like a game. By distancing herself emotionally from the events of her life, she's able to begin tying up "the loose ends she left behind." Complicating matters, however, is an unexpected letter "claiming to know why she's sad" and drawing her deeper into a "mysterious plot" she never could have imagined.

Unlike the indie developer's previous games, The Samaritan Paradox and (as co-creator) Whispers of a Machine, Midnight Margo is not a point-and-click pixel art adventure. Instead, it's a side-scrolling game whose unique aesthetic features "photo collage graphics mixed with handpainted elements." Nor is it a traditional adventure game, though there will be an inventory, a "plethora of colourful characters" to interact with, and puzzles to solve, which Ljungqvist aims to make clever enough to require thought and yet intuitive enough to be "fairly easy." Described as a "narrative-driven roleplaying adventure with a touch of absurdity," the game will feature moral dilemmas to contend with, with skill checks and stat-driven gameplay exemplifying Margo's mind experiment. How you progress, then, will depend on how your roleplay the protagonist's development in such things as "Soft People Skills," "Street Smartness," "Mental Resilience" and more. The story will deal with themes like "existential anxiety and social conflict," but to avoid becoming too bleak it will include some dark humour on occasion.

There is no target release date just yet, but it's not far off as Midnight Margo is due to arrive sometime in the first quarter of 2024 on Steam for Windows PC.

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