What’s in the box?!
I shouldn’t like Seven as much as I did. The RPG comes from some of the guys behind The Witcher 3, a game that never really hooked me, and was heavily inspired by Thief, a game I’m terrible at. I don’t know how they did it, but Imgn.pro and Fool’s Theory managed to pack the best parts of those games into an open and isometric world to create something I can easily see myself dumping serious time into. The build I played at PAX East was an alpha, and understandably a little rough around the edges, but even in these early stages Seven shows promise.
It’s set in the fictional world of Vetral a couple hundred years after the apocalypse. While humanity survived the end of times, they don’t have a lot to show for it. The landscapes are filled with decrepit architecture and rough buildings made from scrap, both slowly being reclaimed by nature.
Parkour-styled movement is where Seven‘s Thief inspirations are most apparent. The ability to climb from structure to structure, walk along pipelines to reach out-of-reach ledges, and scale off-limits rooftops are easily the most important skills in any would-be thief’s arsenal. The environment itself also plays its part; you’re harder for enemies to see at night and more difficult to hear when it’s raining.
From the very beginning of the demo I was on my own to do whatever I wanted, but the developer walking me through the game made it clear that my actions, or lack thereof, would have consequences.
Right away, a fight broke out between a burly NPC and a scrawnier bystander. It had nothing to do with me, and as an unarmed, unarmored stranger I could have just walked away from the whole ordeal. Instead I stepped in and defended the weaker guy, who thanked me and ran off into the city.
Later in the demo, that NPC would return to offer me some information and help me progress through the game. Other times my decisions came back to bite me; I later ripped off a sketchy businessman and as a result had to dodge bounty hunters chasing me down.
Likewise, most quests can be solved in different ways. To get my hands on one quest item, I was instructed to covertly make my way in and out of a heavily guarded warehouse where the needed loot could be found. Taking the stealthy route is
Because I’m utter garbage at being sneaky, I opted for a more straightforward approach. Breaking into a shop, murdering a shopkeeper, and stealing the item I needed wasn’t exactly what the game asked me to do, but it completed the quest all the same.
Seven is looking good for a game with no set release date, but combat is one of the areas where its early-alpha status shows. Enemy AI was varied: sometimes a provoked enemy would follow me relentlessly and other times I could kill one guard and his nearby buddy would stand idly by.
Combat was similarly rough. For the most part, locking on to a target and mashing the attack button got the job done. Unarmed combat, especially against an armed opponent, required me to throw a few well-timed dodges into the mix, but all challenge was gone once I found and equipped a gun.
I lost track of time during my demo. I sat in a booth playing Seven for an hour and fifteen minutes. And even then, I only stopped because I messed up a puzzle and got stuck. I’m not sure how long my appointment was supposed to be, but the two developers watching me play never cut me off, so I just kept playing. Even after all that time, I never ran out of things to do. If the finished game brings that level of content to the table, I’m likely to go missing for a few weeks.
