Where is the Agency

A common critique of Remote Shepherd is “Where’s the agency?” Our initial answer to this question was that the NPCs would react to shots fired at or near them. However this did not stop the question, so we had to sit down and think how the player’s actions would affect the game. Our current answer is that what the player does will lead to a certain outcome for a mission. Each outcome for a mission fits into one of three categories; lethal, non-lethal or arrest.

Lethal outcomes involve the death of an NPC where as non-lethal requires that no one has been killed. The next mission will depend on which of these two categories the outcome of the previous mission fit into. The arrest outcome happens when, through their actions, the police are able to locate each of the three snipers, ending the game. When the player is arrested they view a cutscene showing a conclusion to anything that has happened in the game.

We decided to place a heavy cost to all of the player’s actions, influenced by Heavy Rain. Everything the player does has some type of effect on how the game’s story unfolds. If a player just starts shooting randomly into the crowd they will be arrested quicker, leading to the end of the game. The player’s choice to use lethal or non-lethal action will also shape how the story unfolds by changing the missions.