A couple of years back Mike Bithell’s Thomas Was Alone showed up on PlayStation Plus in the Instant Games Collection and like with many indie games on the service, I tried it out with no expectations. Some are fine to pass an hour, some are turgid, lazy tower defence games. Sometimes though, sometimes the game is fantastic and reminds you why PS Plus is a good service for trying things beyond your comfort zone and radar.
Thomas Was Alone is one such title. It told a story of sentient A.I. blocks coming to terms with their newfound thoughts as they traversed the puzzles and platforms that made up the game. Danny Wallace’s narration lent these blocks more character than a hundred fully-realised, but generic videogame protagonists could. It was a pleasant surprise and remained one of my favourite games of that year. This meant that when Bithell announced Volume; a stealth game that retells the Robin Hood legend in a future-based VR setting, the expectation is there this time. The anticipation has built, but can it deliver?
Rob Locksley is our Robin Hood in this tale, so of course he’s out to rob from the rich to give to the poor. The way the game goes about this is by reworking the legend with a Locksley young hacker-type being guided around virtual representations of offices, bank vaults and the like by an A.I. known as Alan ( Danny Wallace returning in fine form doling out barbed sarcasm and being a bit slow on the uptake). The story arc sees Locksley in a race against time with the heavy-handed forces of Gisbourne Industries as he streams his daring set of heists on company premises and business associates to the whole of England.
The setup of Volume is heavily influenced by the original Metal Gear Solid in terms of its top down visual style and reliance on stealth and gadgets. Locksley has to avoid an ever-growing number of obstacles in a non-violent manner (there is no neck-snapping or headshots here) whilst grabbing the level’s valuables (represented by large white diamond shapes) and heading for the exit. The path to glory starts by only being blocked with simple-minded guards known as pawns who patrol in easily readable patterns and can be largely outwitted by keeping out of their literal cone of vision.
At first this is as easy as crouching out of sight and shuffling past them, or flushing a toilet to get their attention, but as time goes on the game throws in different parameters to improve their A.I. and bolster their support by introducing specialised enemy types that include snipers with a long, narrow cone of vision, dogs that can’t attack you, but alert all nearby guards to your presence and a guard type that relentlessly pursues you. With each addition to the game’s enemy ranks and obstacles there is usually a new gadget for Locksley to use against them.
You start with the ability to whistle to lure guards away from an area and that’s cleverly evolved into the use of the first proper gadget: The Bugle. This item is aimed in the direction you desire and when you press the back right trigger it bounces off walls to create a noise further away than the whistle can manage; you can set it off early with a second press of R2 if the need should arise (it will). This is just the beginning, as I said before, and the Bugle only shows up when there is a need for it. Later gadgets give you new ways to exploit old problems as well as deal with new ones, but in each case they are introduced then used only when the situation truly requires them.
There is a great thrill in narrowly escaping the sight of a guard as being seen sees the game’s soundtrack roar into a higher crescendo to match the panic you feel. Getting caught happens a fair bit, even if you are half-decent at stealth games and the design of the game is excellent in the way it puts you back in the action as quick as it possibly can.This forms a winning loop of short stealth puzzling levels, broken up into checkpointed chunks to create a wonderfully moreish experience.
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The downside of regular checkpoints is that there are times you feel like you are gaming the system by running through a tough section to the safety of the checkpoint instead of taking on the challenge as it was intended. This is a problem in terms of simply running through the core game for the first time, but the challenge is clearly in trying to complete each level flawlessly and in a respectable time (the leaderboards are already sporting some impressive top scores). Still, the flaw is there and it does prevent Volume from reaching the heights of the very best stealth games, even if it does provide a refreshingly streamlined take on it.
There are one hundred core levels to contend with, each taking a few minutes or so (or more during some taxing later ones), so there’s already a decent amount to get to grips with and good value to boot. There’s an extra trick in Volume’s bag however, one that greatly increases its longevity. A level creator is included and it’s wonderfully simple to use and the results are proving to be inspired already with some cracking recreations of the layouts of other games, especially the ones aping Metal Gear Solid, which have levels based on several iconic areas of Shadow Moses made by users. If the early efforts are anything to go by then the future could be rosy for Volume.
Going back to the story, the voice cast are on point with their performances. Andy Serkis (of Gollum and Caesar fame), is almost predictably great as Guy Gisbourne; a snide, arrogant egomaniac underneath the publicly perceived ‘’good guy boss’’, though he’s very much in the background compared to Locksley and Alan. Locksley is voiced by YouTuber Charlie McDonnell and he lends the character an air of both wit-laden confidence and a nervy shyness befitting of a young adult benefitting from the relative anonymity of the internet.
I already regarded Danny Wallace’s work as Alan before, but it is worth adding he has a rather interesting journey as his initial enthusiasm to train Locksley and belief in his importance is shattered and reshapes the dynamic between the pair. It all makes for an interesting narrative arc, nothing ‘’classic’’ by any means, but good enough to stand out from the average videogame plot. It echoes the same basic sentiment of a program having very human emotions that Thomas Was Alone focused on and while it’s well written and often amusing and heartfelt, it just doesn’t quite have the winning personality of Mike Bithell’s previous outing.
Volume as a package is well made considering how small the team working on it is. The VR Missions-inspired visuals give it a strikingly crisp look, the soundtrack is superb, and the pick up and play gameplay loop is almost perfection in its execution. The flaws are enough to stop Volume from achieving greatness though, instead it will have to make do with being rather good.