Compulsion Games

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Compulsion Games Inc.
Xbox Game Studios (2018–present)
Websitecompulsiongames.com

Compulsion Games Inc. is a Canadian

puzzle-platform game Contrast and the 2018 survival horror game We Happy Few
.

History

Compulsion Games was founded in Montreal in 2009 by Guillaume Provost, who had previously worked for Arkane Studios.[4] To raise funds for their first game, the team of Compulsion Games worked on external projects, including Darksiders, Dungeon & Dragons: Daggerdale, and Arthur Christmas: Elf Run.[5]

At E3 2018, Microsoft announced they entered into an agreement to acquire Compulsion Games, which would become part of Microsoft Studios (now known as Xbox Game Studios).[6] At the time of the acquisition, Compulsion Games had 40 employees.[7] By October 2021, the studio had further doubled its staff since the release of We Happy Few, and was working on a narrative, third-person perspective game, though would avoid some missteps from We Happy Few, such as using roguelike elements or an early access approach.[8]

Games developed

Year Title Platform(s) Publisher
2013 Contrast Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 Focus Entertainment
2018 We Happy Few Linux, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Gearbox Publishing
TBA South of Midnight Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X/S Xbox Game Studios

Contrast (2013)

Portal
series encouraged people to think about space in different ways. The idea of 2D shadow/3D world interaction came to him in a coffee shop in France, and seemed to be a great way of exploring new puzzle mechanics. The film noir world, and the narrative, flowed from this concept.

We Happy Few (2018)

retrofuturistic-fashioned society formed following an alternate timeline of events within World War II, which is on the verge of collapse in the mid-1960s. The residents of the city, seeking to forget an unspeakable horror they committed, began taking a hallucinogenic drug called "Joy" that brings them euphoria, but also leaves them easily controlled and lacking morality and understanding. Players control one of three characters, who becomes dubbed as a "Downer" after choosing to stop using Joy, and must try to survive long enough to complete something important and personal to themselves, all while trying to escape the city before the impending social collapse. Played from a first-person perspective, the game combines role-playing, survival, and light roguelike elements, with the developers focused on creating a story with strong narratives, gameplay underlined by a sense of paranoia, and decisions having moral grey areas and weight that influence and affect later parts of the game. This peculiar mix of laughter and dystopia, another "contrast" after the lights and shadows of the previous title, is inspired by the film Brazil by Terry Gilliam, in turn inspired by the quintessential dystopian novel, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the first trailers, traces of Stanley Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange can be recognized. The aesthetic resembles BioShock because Compulsion Games seems particularly linked to the Art Deco style, also present in Contrast. The world of We Happy Few is procedurally generated.[10]

South of Midnight

South of Midnight is an upcoming

Third-person action-adventure video game developed by Compulsion Games. Set in the atmospheric backdrop of the American Deep South, blending a narrative with unique art direction and deep thematic gameplay elements. Described as a "wide linear" game, South of Midnight features some explorable areas that are gated, requiring players to complete the story in each region before progressing to the next.[11]

The game uses magical realism as a way to quickly draw the player into its world. Taking inspiration from European, Caribbean and African storytelling, Compulsion engages its audience into a location not often seen in games of this scale. The player controls a "weaver" named Hazel who repairs tears in the grand tapestry behind all of existence. The magic system is based around textiles with the player being able to weave strands of reality into useful tools and weapons to ward off creatures that have escaped through the tears.[12]

References

  1. ^ Pavlovic, Uros (20 December 2019). "David Sears, creative director of Compulsion Games, and his studio, talk about the acquisition of Microsoft". Wccftech. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  2. ^ Curtis, Christopher (28 June 2018). "Microsoft picks up Montreal's Compulsion Games: 'We get to just create'". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  3. ^ Mäki, Jonas (10 September 2021). "Compulsion has doubled in size and is developing a third person game". Gamereactor. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  4. ^ Gilbert, Henry (14 August 2013). "8 rising indie developers to watch". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on 17 January 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  5. PlayStation LifeStyle. Archived
    from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  6. ^ Grubb, Jeff (10 June 2018). "Microsoft Game Studios just added five new studios including Ninja Theory". Archived from the original on 10 June 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  7. ^ Romano, Sal (10 June 2018). "Microsoft acquires Undead Labs, Playground Games, Ninja Theory, and Compulsion Games". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  8. ^ Middler, Jordan (17 October 2021). "Xbox's Compulsion Games is working on a 'third-person single player game'". Video Games Chronicle. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  9. ^ Reeves, Ben (4 April 2013). "Contrast: Diving In And Out Of Shadows". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 10 August 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  10. GDC Vault. Archived
    from the original on 9 August 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  11. ^ Games, Compulsion. "South of Midnight". Compulsion Games. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  12. ^ Joe Skrebels (11 June 2023). "South of Midnight: The Hidden Details in that Gorgeous Reveal Trailer – Exclusive Interview". Xbox Wire. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

External links

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