Last year developer Tristan Dahl released a very unique game called One Show Only ($1.99), which was a murder mystery game where the clues to unravelling the mystery were divulged by interviewing a ton of zany characters and playing a card game against them. It had a really funky style and the way it blended a gameplay mechanic into a narrative-driven murder mystery was really neat. Well, Tristan is back at it again with his upcoming game Tumbling Home. Again, this is a game based heavily around narrative and communication but with a gameplay mechanic woven in, in this case a dice game that you play with two old friends. As you play, you ask questions and learn about how your friends have been. There’s also some drinking going on during the game, and the more inebriated people get the more likely they are to spill the beans about stuff, but being drunk also makes it harder to bluff and do well during the dice game.
Tumbling Home definitely seems like a strange mixture of ideas, which also makes it incredibly interesting to me. The dialogue amongst the friends feels authentic to how people might really be hanging out and talking and drinking while playing a game together, and Dahl says the tone of the game was heavily inspired by Wes Anderson movies which I can definitely see shining through. Tumbling Home will launch March 2nd for free and be supported by video ads, with a one-time purchase to disable them. It seems very unique and I’m looking forward to checking it out.
