"As a team we grew up playing games like Fallout, Baldur's Gate, and Planescape Torment," says Oral, "and we wanted to recreate that kind of experience."
Throughout the story we follow the enigmatic clues and footsteps left by a mysteriously shrouded figure called the Dismal Man. After experiencing a nightmare in the opening tutorial, I retrace the Dismal Man's steps to find a key glinting on the ground. Asking around town points me toward Schmidt's Antiques, and its key-obsessed merchant, Isidore.
Isidore's offers to buy the key, raising the price in cigs--Arkham's currency, like a prison, is cigarettes--until they reach 1000. At this point I actually have the option of selling the key, which Oral tells me leads to a gameover state.
"We give the player the right to abandon the main quest," says Oral. "Remember in Choose Your Own Adventure game books, you died a lot! We have that element in our game."
[...]
