Gameplay of Epsylon

Summary

Epsylon - The Guardians of Xendron takes the player on a journey to a futuristic world investigating a very special Science-Fiction setup. With a team of rather different characters the player investigates, and if required fights, his way through a large case. How you solve the case is though up to you. Combine the strength of your team members is important as no team member alone can crack the case alone.

Background Story / Introduction

It's late this afternoon when Sam and Tedeon are resting on the near hillside. Georgo joins up to tell them about the informations he squeezed out of his informant. They learned some days ago that the old facility in the valley side has found some new occupants. A year ago the facility had been shut down. But now there seems to be life in there. Sam and Georgo decide to pull off a night operation. After the nightfall the two enter the office part of the facility. To their astonishment nobody could be found. From the last time they entered here they knew where to find the labs. Down there nobody could be found neither. It looks like they had been forced to leave. Damage marks suggest there had been a fight. After some more searching around they find a address of a dimension: alpha-10, the world Odjin comes from. They had been there only once when they met Odjin. With only this little information they decided to head over to alpha-10 with the entire team to investigate further. The next day they set off for alpha-10 not knowing that they ended up in one of their most tricky case they ever had.

Gameplay

All your actions have large influence on the events in the world. It is better to conduct your investigation without lethal force if possible. As you are a stranger in this world people tend to not tell you all they know so you have to find your own ways to gather the informations you need to crack the case. Sometimes you can not get around taking a fight. There are multiple ways to solve the case depending on how you approach the investigation. Be careful though with whome you talk and what you do. The underworld is watching you and if they catch wind of you messing with their business they will carry out counter measures which can range from making "vanish" information you seek all the way to trying to silence you. Various features can help you on your way:

• The interactive environment allows you to use objects in various ways. Especially useful sneaking around in places you are not supposed to be to begin with. The AI reacts to the changes which can be to your advantage (for example blocking view) or disadvantage (for example objects missing from where they should be).
• Fully interactive computers are a good source for informations. Snoop through emails or in general the content of the computer. You never know what you find in there. Some computers also control other objects.
• Different camera perspectives including the Dragon-View mode allow you to play the game the way you like it.
• Implant systems are useful to get throught tight and deadly spots where other characters have troubles. Odjin is equipped with one of those and is especially useful for entering hostile zones.
• Investigating alone can be dangerous and inefficient. Use your team members to work on cases at the same time. This can be done by working them in different locations or entering places as a group. Whatever you do keep in mind that the individual characters have their individual strength. Combine them to get through to the end.
• The investigation system helps you solve your cases. Keep track of informations about various entities in the world as well as the progress on your investigation. Most of the time you are not told where the information is you are looking for so use the entity informations as well as snooping around to find it.

One of the key points is that the story is part of the game mechanics. It is not told to the player by hitting NPCs. The story is the main case in the investigation. So to learn the story solve the investigation. Depending on how you solve it you can learn more or less about the story. It is therefore useful to look sometimes deeper than requested.