Not only is Acolyte a natural language game - meaning you can talk freely without pre-defined dialogue options - it's also an ARG. This means that the game spills out of the game client itself, and starts to unfold across the web.
Everything spins around the fictional company of Nanomax, who you'll 'work for' as a QA tester when you begin the game. The nature of your relationship to Nanomax will change as the story-progresses, but the company is a constant throughout the narrative.
The ARG components of Acolyte are largely tied to this tech company, and their real-world presence. You'll be trawling through their web presence, social media accounts and internal documentation in your investigation to expose their true intentions.
This means, as a detective style experience, you'll need to think outside the box, and apply very different logic to your puzzle-solving. Leaving the game experience for the first time might feel odd - or even like you're cheating - but it's very much by design. While you don't *technically* need an internet connection to play, many of the answers and solutions can only be found as your investigation begins to unfold over the internet.
There is little hand-holding here, but you are, of course, not alone. Ana - your Acolyte - is the Watson to your Holmes, and can be leaned on for help and clues as you need. A lot of the time she has the answers already, but needs to be asked the right questions. Once you fall into a good rhythm and relationship with your Acolyte, puzzle answers will come more naturally.
Now I don't want to spoil any puzzle answers here, but the full game will include puzzles the likes of which you've likely not seen before, or at least not in a narrative game like this. We can't wait to see the discussion and support that the growing community might bring to the final game.
More soon.
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Acolyte is due for release May 26th 2022. Wishlist now!
Wishlist Acolyte
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1516330/Acolyte/