The game features difficult, game altering choices, beautiful artwork and cutscenes, and an eerie soundtrack. Each playthrough will be vastly different.
The main character you play as, Demetria Barton, is a vastly different female character as compared to the majority of other female characters within gaming. She has features typically considered more masculine (she’s muscular and has a rougher face with short hair) and is black. Gwaltney said that being black was his only condition for Ian Hogginbotham, the game’s artist:
The other characters include Barkley Pearce, a masterful tactician with just as much brawn, Nyles Guerra, a tech mastermind with a love for mystery novels, Sara Voxley, the cook, surgeon, and gunslinger, Jim Finn, a sitar player and the pilot of their ship Swiftsure, and Xerabond, a quirky android.
The backstories for these characters will be fully explored throughout Distress:
The possible DLCs (if the game receives enough funding for DLCs), may not include backstory for the characters though. It may not include the same characters at all:
Light Machine chose a visual novel instead of a click-and-point, RPG, or another genre of game purposefully as well. Besides being a less expensive form of gaming, Gwaltney continued:
Gwaltney goes on to explain that the visual novel format allows for a greater appreciation of the music as well. Without focusing on so many gameplay elements at once, the player can focus much more on the soundtrack. According to Gwaltney, Erandi Huipe, the composer for the game, has created a great soundtrack that deserves a good listen.
The Kickstarter page also lists inspirations as Mass Effect, Snatcher, and Silent Hill. Gwaltney describes how the team joined the three games together into Distress:
They already have dark and eerie down too. After playing through the demo, which was about ten minutes, I had already crossed some dark lines and creepy images. There was one line that stated war is a part of human nature. There were images of mutilated bodies with guts spilling out. One body was even tied to a wall with a bloody message behind him.
That being said, considering the imagery, the game probably isn’t the best suited for children.
In other words, use your own discretion.
“You’re responsible not just for your own life, but the lives of your crew as well. Make your choices. Live with the consequences. Good luck.”
