Fantastic contraption

Swiss indie studio Okomotive’s vehicular adventure puts a positive spin on the post-apocalypse

Okomotive’s Far: Lone Sails puts a positive spin on post-apocalyptic

There’s something strangely human about this mechanical mobile home – but here, at the end of the world, it’s the only friend our tiny pac-a-mac-sporting hero has left. “The feeling of loneliness is an integral part of the game,” says Don Schmocker, Okomotive co-founder and creative lead on Far: Lone Sails. “The world you are travelling is vast and barren, and your character is miniscule in comparison.” Environments are charcoal swathes of moody sky and ruin, accented with hints of instructive colour. Stephen Biesty’s book, Incredible Cross-Sections, inspired how players can peek inside at the doll-like scene as they scurry the red-coated driver around, fuelling and fixing via buttons, lifts and fire hoses.

The journey across the dried-up ocean floor is mostly about your relationship with the giant hybrid machine. “The interdependency plays a major role in making the vehicle feel alive,” Schmocker says. “It is your safe spot, it provides shelter from menacing weather conditions, you can collect memorabilia inside it, and marvel at its evolutions over the course of your journey. Even if it may be a bit capricious sometimes, it still feels natural that you need to look after it and tend to its needs. Without it, all hope of finding answers would be lost.”

It is also, Schmocker says, about forward momentum. “The atmosphere is eerie and may appear depressing, but it is never without hope: moving forward instead of staying deadlocked suggests that there may still be something out there worth the risk.” We’ll know for sure in February, when Far: Lone Sails releases on PC and Mac.