Abstract
Chaotic new tackle hockey out now on Xbox Collection X|S.Brutal fights, ridiculous takedowns and riveting motion inside a singular narrative.How we imagined a recreation impressed by childhood hockey taking part in and storytelling.
What occurs when 5 Finnish builders take the hockey they grew up taking part in on frozen ponds and switch it right into a story in regards to the best underground hockey participant who ever lived?
After I take into consideration my childhood, a few of my finest reminiscences aren’t from college, holidays or birthday events.
They’re from the ice.
Rising up in Finland, I spent monumental quantities of time on frozen outside rinks and ponds, taking part in hockey with pals. You didn’t want to prepare it weeks prematurely or examine everybody’s calendar. You simply went to the rink. Video games occurred. Friendships occurred. Among the individuals I met by means of hockey again then are nonetheless my pals right this moment.
There was one thing particular about these video games. The principles could possibly be versatile, groups might change, and anyone would inevitably attempt one thing ridiculous. That feeling grew to become one of many beginning factors for Puckoff.
After we created Puckoff: Reloaded, we needed to deliver a few of that feeling again. Lots of the recreation’s rinks are frozen outside ponds impressed by the locations the place we grew up taking part in.
Then we requested ourselves a easy query: What if successful didn’t imply scoring extra objectives?
A Totally different Type of Hockey
In most hockey video games, you understand what you’re imagined to do: Get the puck. Rating objectives. Win the sport. In Puckoff: Reloaded, there are a number of extra choices. You possibly can rating. Arrange a teammate. Make the proper cross. Or you may knock somebody out.
And no one on this world appears significantly bothered by that final choice.
That’s the world we needed to create: a story-driven hockey recreation the place preventing isn’t a random facet exercise, however a part of the game and its unusual underground tradition. I’ve performed a whole lot of the massive hockey video games through the years. They’re nice at what they do, however I all the time discovered myself pondering: “Why can’t I simply do this?”
You understand the sensation. An opponent does one thing you don’t like, and also you wish to give them slightly… additional consideration. However the recreation tells you no. That’s after I realized one of many issues I like about video games. They allow us to experiment, trigger chaos and do issues we wouldn’t essentially do in actual life. So, I believed: what if a hockey recreation really embraced that? That’s how Puckoff: Reloaded started.
In our model of hockey, scoring objectives remains to be helpful. It’s simply not the one solution to win.
We’re Not Simply Making a Hockey Recreation
I’ve all the time cherished storytelling, and for years I’ve had a selected dream: What would it not be like if an enormous hockey recreation really had an actual story? Not only a profession mode the place you play a season and improve your participant. I imply a correct story. Characters you care about. Mysteries. Rivalries. Friendships. A cause to surprise what occurs subsequent. That’s what we needed Puckoff: Reloaded to be.
Between matches, the sport makes use of a visual-novel-inspired presentation to inform a bigger story. The hockey video games aren’t disconnected challenges. They’re a part of a journey. And that journey is about discovering a legend.
The Seek for Dominator
On the coronary heart of Puckoff: Reloaded is a hockey legend named Dominator. He’s been taking part in underground hockey matches for many years, and no one actually is aware of how he’s managed to maintain going for therefore lengthy. What everybody does know is that he has by no means misplaced a recreation.
For the participant character, Dominator isn’t simply one other hockey participant. He’s the rationale to maintain taking part in. The dream is straightforward: discover Dominator and finally play alongside him. Getting there means assembly the individuals who inhabit this underground hockey world and proving you’re ok to belong in it. Finally, that results in the Cage.
Welcome to the Cage
The most important fights in Puckoff: Reloaded don’t occur in a standard hockey enviornment. They occur underground.
The Cage is the place among the recreation’s most harmful opponents are ready. These boss matches are totally different from abnormal video games: you’re not merely going through one other crew and attempting to attain extra objectives. You’re going through a personality with their very own id, skills and method of taking part in. And should you’re going to get nearer to Dominator, you’ll need to get by means of them.
Our Dream is Larger Than This Recreation
I’m pleased with what our five-person crew has created, however I additionally see Puckoff: Reloaded as the start of one thing. My dream has all the time been to make story-driven hockey video games with the scope and manufacturing values of the big-budget video games. I need hockey video games the place you bear in mind the characters as a lot because the matches. Tales that make you care who wins. I need a recreation the place you may spend a night taking part in hockey with your pals, laughing when anyone will get knocked out—after which come again the subsequent day since you genuinely wish to know what occurs to the characters.
We’re not an enormous studio. We’re 5 individuals in Finland making the sport we needed to play. For me, that’s what Puckoff has all the time been about. It began with the frozen ponds the place a few of my finest childhood reminiscences had been made. Now we’re taking these reminiscences, including a ridiculous quantity of preventing, making a hockey legend who hasn’t misplaced in many years, and turning the entire thing right into a story.
We simply have to seek out Dominator first.
Puckoff: Reloaded launches on Xbox Collection X|S right this moment.
PUCKOFF: RELOADED
Kuura Playhouse Oy
$14.99
PUCKOFF: RELOADED is the newest, and best, model of the (in)well-known recreation, PUCKOFF, beforehand obtainable just for private computer systems. Enter the world of no-rules hockey as a complete beginner and work in your abilities and perspective to satisfy with the legendary terrorizer, Dominator. Construct your crew of has-beens and legends whereas studying totally different playstyles to defeat a plethora of colourful characters across the globe. Group up with the ever cheerful Sarah, the most effective beer-league goalie Eddie, and the ever grumpy seen-it-all Coach. So seize you skates and PUCK OFF!
