Elements: A Promising Adventure
Between myself and the rest of the team here at Six One Indie, we’ve been able to go hands on with a bevy of incredible games at PAX East ‘22. From Souls-inspired titles, highly polished third person shooters, tear jerking visual novels, and chaotic party games, we had a chance to get a taste of it all. With all of the offerings to play and talk about, it’s natural to be enveloped by the excitement of what one experiences. But a personal notable standout came from the ambitious concepts that Wreckit Games and Apogee Entertainment have for their new third person action adventure, Elements. Upon speaking to Wreckit’s founder Devon Parsons, I was given an exclusive look of the art and assets while gaining in-depth insights into the vision and inspirations behind Elements.
Upon experiencing the joy in playing open world titles such as Breath of the Wild, Parsons noted the inciting idea behind Elements. The concept came from the desire of getting lost in a vast game world with his two children. Playing solo with them on the couch was fun in its own right, but playing cooperatively while venturing through these bright fantasy worlds would open up a whole new avenue of play. This is the core foundation for Elements and the impressive concepts to follow.
Set in Elemythia, a realm separate from yet deeply connected to Earth, players will be tasked with tracking down elemental stones that will heal the realm and Earth alike. Tracking these stones will be no simple task, Parsons explained, as he shared more about the realm itself and the tasks players will be undertaking to save it.
Elemythia will be separated into several regions with their own biomes, though I was only able to see the forested area in my demo. Each region will house a handful of towns to visit, all with their own environmentally specific issues, personal ordeals, and multiple unique questlines. Aiding the towns and their citizens will build trust which will ultimately reward players with the ability to build a home in the respective town. These homes will not only act as save points, but also provide more gameplay mechanics such as personal storage, sleep mechanics, forges to enhance your equipment, and most notably, act as save points. Despite being early in development, what I was already able to achieve in home-building made Parsons’ concepts that more compelling.
The freedom that would accompany building was another interesting concept. Not only were the mechanics themselves simple and intuitive, but according to Parsons, players will be able to build outside of towns wherever and whenever they choose. This opens up the door for a heavily flexible experience. For example, players can build and personalize a mountain-top manor with a co-op partner as home base. With a save point built, players can then seek dungeons and bosses in the tundra to gain specific weapons, spells, or gear. Once the goal is achieved, the manor can serve as a spot to secure and upgrade the spoils. The concept that hits all the marks to justify my attention.
When asked to dive a little deeper into the diversity of the equipment, Parsons took the time to share art and 3D models to accompany his explanation of the creative inspirations and lore behind it all. The stones players will be seeking out were at one point protected by “stone keepers.” The stone keepers, Parsons explained, imprinted their cultures onto the stones, as well as the regions of Elemythia they would ultimately end up in. Because of this, the equipment, much like the towns you’ll come across, have a specific design language to them. Parsons also shared concept art for multiple variations of biome specific weapons and armor. He pointed out keen details, noting how water based equipment will have more Polynesian inspirations while air based equipment will have design elements rooted in Japanese culture. Additionally, he also shared the multiple iterations of the grass based weapons, explaining how improved iterations presented more upgrade slots to augment the weapons themselves. Each one of these weapon and armor sets will also all have specific advantages and disadvantages depending on the circumstances of your encounter.
The already impressive Elements demo proved to be a great proof of concept for Parsons and his team to build upon. The beautiful pixar-esque aesthetic, strong combat, intuitive building mechanics, and an expansive open world all culminate in a sturdy foundation for Parsons’ vision. Despite delivering a worthy proof-of-concept, the extent of the co-op gameplay, how varied gameplay and encounters may be, and the narrative ambitions remains to be seen. The stage is set for an exciting new adventure. If the team at Wreckit lands the execution, Elements may very well become a must-play for all.
Written by Justin Hyde