Exploding Tuba Studios’ first game gave us an interesting premise but did not follow through with the mechanics.
Divide is the first game from Exploding Tuba Studios, a very small company headed by Chris Tilton. Tilton is best known in the gaming industry for his work on game music, with titles like SimCity and Assassin’s Creed on his resume.
Now Tilton, along with a small team, is trying his hand at developing an entire game from start to finish. The result is Divide, an isometric action/adventure game set in a futuristic world straight out of a science fiction novel.
Storyline
Father and otherwise regular person David is the protagonist of Divide. We find out early on that David has lost his wife Mariam due to an accident which occurred at her job. We then meet Alton, Mariam’s coworker, who engages David in a very confusing and ominous conversation about how things “are not what they seem.” Alton gives David a briefcase, as shady characters often do, and promises to contact David later.
That briefcase serves as a catalyst to the rest of the game. David opens the case and the contents transport him to Vestige, a huge science and technology corporation which has grown so pervasive that it’s created its own little society. As the game progresses, David comes to learn Vestige’s secrets and the corporation’s true motives. He also learns more about what really happened to his wife.
The premise and tone of Divide is woven through the details of the game. Vestige is an ominous organization, obviously too powerful for humanity’s own good. David’s situation is also perilous. The visual design of the game add to this quietly tense oppression with its muted colors and ample shadows. So does the music which, not surprisingly, is one of the game’s highlights.
David’s primary feeling is confusion. Playing the game, you feel the same confusion as he does. No information is ever handed to you. For much of the game, you are sneaking around, hacking Vestige company information out of terminals and employee stations. There is a map that you can reference, but even that needs to be unlocked section by section, which requires traversing quite a bit of territory blindly before finding the console that will add that section to your map.
Infusing a certain level of confusion into a game with this tone helps the player connect and invest in the game’s protagonist. Unfortunately, Divide pushes confusion to a level that becomes ultimately frustrating. It’s too confusing. At first, I took great pleasure in wandering to every computer I could interact with to download new information about Vestige. This felt like a genius way for us to simultaneously learn more about the game world and about how to play the game. But the seventh time I had to walk around the same area, looking for any new information that would help me move to the next stage in the game, I was over it.
Part of the reason the game feels so confusing is because it feels unfinished. Some of the dialogue spoken aloud by the characters does not match the on-screen captions. Some of the story elements are unclear: David is at first convinced his daughter has also been transported to Vestige and is desperate to find her; later on, he stresses how important it is for him to get back home to his daughter. Which is it?
The map interface previously discussed also seems unfinished. While on-screen icons seem to indicate that you can zoom in and out on the map, I was unable to find a way to do so no matter how I tried. Eris, David’s adventure companion whom you meet in Vestige, also often mentions that she has added an objective to your map. Upon checking the map and the objectives list, nothing has changed.
All of this leads to large chunks of the game where you are just wandering around, interacting with computers and terminals randomly, hoping that your actions happen to be the right ones. It took much too long to reach further stages of the game because I did not know where to go to get what I needed to move forward.
It also does not help that my play-through of the game was completely halted pretty early on due to what seems to be a major glitch. David and Eris are attempting to board a train when they are halted by Vestige guards. The game starts to enter a cut scene — the guards walk forward with their guns trained — and then the cut scene just stops. The next action that’s supposed to occur just doesn’t happen.
I reached out to Exploding Tuba Studios about this bug, but as of this writing I have not received a response.
Gameplay
Divide is billed as a game with action just as much as adventure. David does receive a gun, which he is advised to use against various robots and guards in the game. Unfortunately, the game’s controls are hard to adjust to which makes wielding the gun effectively even more difficult.
The left analog is responsible for David’s movement and directional view in the game. The right analog is used to trigger a special view that David is afforded due to a pair of contacts that he is wearing. The contacts reveal to him a slew of hidden markers and icons he can select and interact with.
The right analog needs to be specifically triggered before he can interact with elements in the world and before he can fire his gun. This extra step is tough to get used to, as it goes against conventional control set up, and attempting to select an icon can become a delicate game of matching and alignment that just isn’t necessary. This extra step also becomes tedious when it comes to firing David’s gun.
To be frank, combat in this game is not good. David’s gun is hard to control and recharges slowly. You are told that it’s good for stunning enemies from afar, but often you end up having to face your opponent at point blank range — taking multiple hits in the process — for your shot to actually land with any effect.
There is a chance that the ineffectiveness of David’s gun is intentional. From the subdued tone of the game, you get the sense that stealth is just as important as combat to making it to the end. But brushing up against enemies is inevitable, and the tool you are given to defend yourself is wholly inadequate.
And more practice with the gun doesn’t necessarily help. The game starts you in the middle of the action, then takes you back in time so you get the lead up to how it all happened. The second time I played through the beginning sequence, I died more times than I did the first time I played through when I had been first taught the controls. Go figure.
To a lesser extent, level design also contributes to control issues. Most of the time, the isometric design works and is a pleasure to look at. There are certain areas, however, that are hard to navigate. Barriers reside in places that look perfectly traversable, and staircases become difficult to spot.
The Verdict
In a conversation with David, Eris divulges that she feels she has “lived my life app by app for too long.” Divide gives us an intriguing sci-fi scenario that resonates with our reality considering where we are today with our own technology. It builds up the right tone and the right feelings for the player through the music, the design of the environment and through some gameplay elements.
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However, Divide becomes too confusing and too hard to navigate. The game feels unpolished and unfinished. Only those with oodles of patience and the utmost of passion for new indie games will be able to push through to the end with enjoyment.