Imprinted comes to us from the mind of video game composer Fillipo Beck Peccoz, who’s composed multiple soundtracks over the years, including Tavern Talk and Desperados. III. With fellow developers making up the team at newly formed Cobalt Lane Studios, they have come together to craft a simulated PC OS experience with a ghost story narrative.
In this preview we play two in-game days, with a total of six days available in the full version. We take the role of Vincent Brandt, an audio engineer and forensic expert who’s trying to make a living restoring audio that his clients send him and is also suffering from issues with his system. Even right at the beginning of the demo, something doesn’t seem right as we experience a mighty system crash, which leaves us to restore Vince’s PC from a backup.
Once back onto the desktop, it’s clear to see how much work has gone into creating a believable OS system. Mostly everything is interactive, from desktop icons to the WiFi symbol down in the taskbar. Web browsers, file explorer, terminal access and mail app are all present, as well as the option to move the windows or minimise/maximise them as you would on a real computer.
Also present is the in-game take on WhatsApp, ‘Stratosphere’, where you’ll be doing most of your communication. You’ll chat to your main client, Claudia, who’ll send over files for you to fix and send back. These conversations are carried out extremely well with a smooth system for players to respond, with just one or two options to choose from, and then the words automatically type themselves out and are sent to the recipient.
You’ll also get a taster for what kind of audio engineering is involved, as you’ll have to fix numerous files from glitches to distorted vocals. This side of the game is also very well designed, with having to pick out pieces of the track and work on them in simple but effective ways to clear up the audio. Represented in an audio program, you’ll see the track waves as well as the tools you’ll need to restore the work to its original state.
The more fascinating part was how the game tells its narrative, as there are clues to Vince’s past life buried in the PC that you can discover, to the interactions Vince has with other people, and to the way the OS keeps glitching every now and then, just to tell you that not all is right in Vince’s world. Everything starts to unravel, though, when Vince stumbles onto a mysterious audio file from 1970s singer Viola Fossati, who seems to be more than she appears to be.
With Imprinted also containing puzzles for you to solve, from having to dig into past emails to find a link to checking photos to figure out a password, there’s a good mix of gaming elements to keep it from going stale. The game features strong characterisation from the detailed and believable writing, and I felt I was just getting to know Vince when the 90 min demo finished. Immersion is also high here, not only from the detailed design of the OS but also from incorporating full live-action videos of Vince leaving his PC. The sound design is also doing some heavy lifting, as you’ll often hear Vince’s dog barking in the background or other real-life issues that get in the way of Vince’s work.
I was sold from the moment I started the demo, and I am extremely excited to see the direction the rest of the game takes its narration. The audio engineering mechanics were enjoyable, and the amount of information just waiting to be discovered was truly remarkable. When you combine this with the mysterious sections of the game, there really is an intriguing and clever mix of normality through a fake OS and ghost story. The full game is due to release later this year, but keep an eye on the game’s Steam page for when the demo goes live.
