Calitana is a big, dangerous place; from the jungle to the streets, and the shadowy suburbs in between. Crucially, it’s also an open-world, meaning it can be explored as you see fit. But the level of player-agency lavished upon you, dear off-worlder, goes even deeper than that.
Mechajammer will not ram objectives down your throat. Nor will it offer up waypoints or bread-crumb trails leading to a destination. That’s all on you.
Mechajammer is heavily influenced by the glorious era of (both video and tabletop) games where the sense of adventure was heightened through use of a notepad and pen. You’ll need to be observant and come to your own conclusions about where to go, and how to get there. You’ll explore the world of Calitana at your own pace, but must be wary that around any corner you could face a stray wolf, crazed vagrant, or army of gangbangers.
With all this in mind, you’re probably going to want a nice cosy spot to call home, then.
Outside of Calitana’s central urban-sprawl, on the edges of the city, you’ll establish a base of operations where you can return at your leisure. Here you can heal, hire new companions and accept new quest objectives before heading off into the thick of it once more.
Just like the real world, the best way to get to know a place is to talk to the locals. Engage with the denizens of Calitana and take note of anything that could be interesting. Mechajammer has an integrated notepad allowing you to jot down anything of use, which you can return to at a moment’s notice. Leads might take you to a thug’s hideout for a black-market trade, a raid on the estate of a high ranking Quinton security official, or the location of a shiny new laser gun...
You’ll never be totally in the dark, of course. Mechajammer’s Terminal (found in the top-right of your interface) offers a map of your surroundings, allowing you to place your own Waypoints to navigate by. It will also display all the Terminals you may have already interacted with across Calitana, depicted as small white circles on the screen. By clicking these, you’ll bring up any key information that might have been gathered from that specific terminal and location — an archive of sorts, with reminders about world events.
So Mechajammer is built on a design philosophy that consciously abandons hand-holding, then. Player-agency above all else. This puts the ball back in the court of the community for the exchange of hidden locations off the beaten path, and solutions to the game’s various puzzles. Just like the good ‘ol days. So make use of the Steam discussions, take advantage of the official Discord channel, and talk with other players.
Mechajammer comes to life through the stories you’ll tell about your time in Calitana.
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https://store.steampowered.com/app/485400/Mechajammer/