Have you ever dreamed of being a spy? Hunting down wrong-doers and evil masterminds? Well, it wasn’t like that in the 1970s.. You could choose between government work, which mostly meant pushing the paper or go for the riskier private sector. Noomi Kovacs choose the latter, and dreamed of becoming the new James Bond. This is her story, a story of LIES (LeCarre Institute for Exceptional Spies), welcome to The Low Road.
Studio History
The Low Road started in early 2014 as a shared vision between Xgen Studios founder and former CEO, Skye Boyes and Xgen Art Director Scott Carmichael. Following the launch of 2013’s couch co-op digging adventure game, Super Motherload, Skye wanted to attempt a bold departure from XGen’s previous titles. Skye knew that combining Scott’s unique artistic style and direction with Eric Cheng’s creative desire to meld live-theatre inspired audio with an all-original 1970s-inspired soundtrack could result in an exceptional point-and-click video game. In March 2015, Skye successfully secured competitive funding support from the Canada Media Fund.
The team started to evolve quickly, acquiring Lead Programmer Jed Lang in November 2014; and award-winning playwright Leif Oleson-Cormack as the game’s Narrative Designer in March 2015. In October of 2015, during the midst of the game’s development, the team suffered a tragic loss when Skye Boyes suddenly passed away. Skye’s passing was a massive blow for the XGen team and an unexpected hurdle in the development of The Low Road. Kaelyn Boyes, Skye’s wife assumed ownership of XGen Studios and project leadership of The Low Road. Drawing from Skye’s vision and the resources he had put in place, the XGen team came together for each other during this unhappy time and continued forward. XGen Studios and The Low Road would not continue to exist if not for the team Skye carefully cultivated.
The Low Road – Story:
The year is 1976, you are Noomi Kovacs an overeager graduate of the LeCarre Institute for Exceptional Spies (L.I.E.S)—has just landed her first job at Penderbrook Motors’ Division of Outside Intelligence. Yes, you read that right.. a Motor Division with spy-ties. Corporate espionage was booming in the 1970s and 1980s, which was only fueled by the Cold War and arms race/space race. Set in the world of the automobile industry, “The Low Road” is a point-and-click graphic adventure game which follows a team of corporate spies dedicated to the protection (and appropriation) of game-changing industry secrets.
You start confined to an office and underestimated by a gruff supervisor—a disgraced former government agent named Turn. Noomi will have to exploit her colleagues and surroundings to help further her dream of becoming a globetrotting secret agent. Which means you have to walk around the office, talk with people and gain clues, items and dialogue options to progress in the story. The game has a decent pace, which cuts the story up into chapters. Each chapter you will learn more about the back story of the characters you meet and the underlying tone of corporate espionage and those who are keen on keeping certain things vaulted, literally.
Once in the field, Noomi and Turn begin to realize that their company’s dogged pursuit of their rivals extends to something far more sinister than “healthy competition” and the two will be forced to reconsider the paths they’ve chosen. Lying, blackmail, and emotional manipulation will become Noomi and Turn’s greatest assets as they make their way through…The Low Road. The game starts out easy enough, but addresses some serious issues along the way, like the progress of science, culture, and healthcare. Where do we draw the line, and who can call the shots to draw those lines? Is it the president of the United States? The UN? A secret underground organization with an underground human zoo? You’ll have to play the Low Road to find out.
Mechanics:
The game mechanics work fine on the Nintendo Switch and only bugged out on me in one puzzle. This was clearly designed for mouse-keyboard combinations and was the only point of frustration I had along the lines of my experience with the game. The Low Road has a unique visual style inspired by gouache paintings and a pulsating experimental score. It captivated me through intricate puzzles, branching moral dilemmas, and a quirky cast of memorable characters. Oh and discovering all the ‘false’ endings of course. But you will have to find out yourself how to trigger those..
So if you like espionage novels and point and click style games? You are in for a treat! The Low Road is available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac & Linux. Go pick up a copy and enjoy loads of cleverly designed puns, references and much more.
