Watching my favorite movies recently has struck with me a sense of wanderlust; the Lost City of Atlantis, the Road to El Dorado, and last but certainly not least – Treasure Planet! Venturing to unknown lands and chasing after danger! A shame that I don’t have a passport yet and unable to soar through the galaxy or explore a submerged world underwater, so what’s a broke auntie to do?
Play a romantic RPG, obviously. What better way to self-insert yourself into a new world without any consequences or needing to pack? Nochi Studios fully intends to help us who are starving for adventure by giving us their newest title: Untold Atlas.
“Untold Atlas is a choice-driven game taking on an expedition adventure theme while playing with the visual novel category by weaving in-game group chats and mini-games with intriguing romances. Developed by a female-founded and female-run game studio in Ann Arbor.
Join Riya Cross on an expedition with their crew to explore a mysterious island that resurfaced from the depths of the sea and discover the truth of the island’s ancient technology while diving into their own adventure and romances along the way.” – game summary
A submerged city? Ancient technology? Someone call Milo and Kida! Cos instead of racing against the clock to achieve popularity in Somnium Eleven’s own version of the Hunger Games, we’re given complete access to the island and decide how we explore. And your girl has had the immense pleasure to test this game out to see how just deep we can explore! But before we talk about my experience, let’s go over the game features they’re promising us with this new title:
- 20+ Hours of gameplay
- Make choices to meet & romance characters in an adventure setting
- 12+ Different endings
- Unlockable group chats and CGs (collectible art)
- Play entertaining minigame rounds to earn in-game content
Any game that promises a lot of endings already has me. Will I play the bad ones? ABSOLUTELY NAHT my heart cannot bear the misery but hey, that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a little variety for everyone. Meanwhile the promise of multiple endings on top of hours of gameplay promises established world lore which satisfies every bit of my body; will we find out why the island decided to emerge? What about natives, how did they live beneath the water for so long? I’m secretly crossing my fingers for in-depth explanation because as much as I love Jurassic Park’s “life – ah, finds a way..” Dr. Ian Malcolm only got away with that quote because he never figured out how to button his shirt up and we were totally fine with that.
Now onto my experience!
I met with one of Nochi Studio’s lovely developers and they introduced me to the game, listening intently while I was playing the game and feeling things out.* At first it felt a little nerve-wracking because as a shy person, being noticed 100% is my own true weakness but after walking through a few scenes – it was very easy to sink into the story.
You begin this expedition already knowing your fellow comrades, some better than others, but enough to have an idea of what kind of relationship you share with them. It makes it very fun to engage in banter and also begin to care about the characters immediately because they aren’t there just for you but to make progress in their exploration!
Now I’ve only played a small slice of the game, this is just an assumption, but while the romance is definitely there – your personal relationships with the LI’s might be a little more of a slow burn. Some come off as a little more flirty and others definitely give off this ‘you gotta work for it’ energy which makes this more entertaining. But who are these swashbuckling love interests anyway? Let’s meet ’em.
LOVE INTERESTS~
I met them separately in different locations and scenarios throughout the day because of the locations I picked (logic made me choose this; night time means indoor time, daytime means exploring time) but when I was asked during the demo testing as to why I chose this certain “path”, it definitely felt like a huge hint. That maybe if you decide to go to different places throughout the day, like Somnium Eleven, you’ll experience other parts of the story!
With it being a demo, there wasn’t a lot of time spent but from what I’ve played so far I’d have to say my favorite right now is Alexei. Professional, strict, but also caring in his own distant way. Don’t ask me why but something about emotionally detached people just make me swoo~oon! My time with Lilith was too short to really get a read but whenever I think about her, my mind instantly wanders to Treasure Planet’s fabulous but unrelenting Captain Amelia. Eli was a huge brat; mischievous, expressive but also .. very sweet. He definitely has a penchant for pushing everyone’s patience but my gut tells me there’s a tender side to him.
GAMEPLAY & ART~
In the screenshots below you can see the multiple menus that you’ll be rummaging through and they’re very aesthetically pleasing, immediately my eyes were drawn to the ‘rugged journal’ feel of the pages. The main screen where you view the island is very concise too – it gives more representation as to how far you are from each destination, including a nice little quest log! That way, if you ever feel lost, this will help guide you to achieving more interactions instead of having to guess your way through.
The art is also very charming but we shouldn’t be surprised by this, considering how everything looked so scrumptious in Somnium Eleven. Everything is bright and full of colors with a clear direction as to what kind of style each character has but gives enough room for their own personality to shine through. This is where my love for Treasure Planet seeps through because their clothing is very rustic but shows a few traits of steampunk piracy.
OTHER FEATURES~
To be honest, I’m not entirely certain if I’m allowed to disclose everything I saw but if my word means anything – there’s going to be some fun little activities to keep us occupied in between the main story.
On their Kickstarter page you might see a glimpse of their exploration mini game and it was funny to experiencel. Think of ToT (Tears of Themis) own minigame Trials of Themis with a dash of Choose Your Own Adventure, except you’ve multiple characters to choose from. You experience a setback and decide which character you’ve brought on the expedition to solve, resulting in succeeding or making that character have to sit out.
THE NOCHI TEAM~
Like Lovely Inc’s bestie team, Nochi Studios have also built from the ground up between three women in Ann Arbor, Michigan back in 2020. Their company was founded by their mutual love for creating indie developed games with the the intent to create titles just as capable than those produced by larger studios but to also promote diversity in their work. And as someone who has played both Somnium Eleven and just a little bit of Untold Atlas, it definitely shows.
When their first game released and I immediately noticed several PoC characters, this huge feeling of relief came over me and I think it’s because being able to interact with characters who resembled me was a distinct pleasure that I’ve not been able to experience before. Yet now, thanks to the assistance of all the amazing indie developers out there – Nochi Studios very much included, someone like me can feel confident asking for diversity and not feel out of place by expecting it.
They’re also very receptive to feedback. Throughout the entire testing period, they were mindful of everyone’s schedules and also wanted to sit with us as we played the game to make sure they were fully present when/if we had questions. It felt professional but also like we were talking as friends would which made it very comfortable to me, someone who is very shy, to open up gradually. It’s clear that they’ve a lot of passion for what they do..
“It’s a cool take on mixing visual novels with a player-interactive mini-game that we’ve never done before,” said Natalie Fang, director of Untold Atlas. “Even with the new features we’re experimenting with, players will still experience the romance elements they are expecting from our studio’s games.”
“It is a love letter to the adventure and expedition genre of stories, films, and games that we’ve grown up with and have inspired us over the years,” said Alexandra Mejia, the main writer for the company.
So I hope that you feel just as excited for this title as I do and decide to help by contributing to their Kickstarter right now! Didn’t I mention? Their Kickstarter releases today!
WEBSITE: https://nochistudios.com/
KICKSTARTER: http://kck.st/3UV5Tzp
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/nochistudios
PLATFORM: iOS & Android
ENGINE: Unity
The Pretty Blerd Guardian! 
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