Yesterday Origins Preview

By Mike de Leon Posted on July 14, 2016

At E3 2016, publisher Microids was showcasing their latest collaboration with Pendulo Studios, Yesterday Origins. I met up the with Cyril and Eric, and they began by introducing the main characters of the game; John Yesterday and Pauline Petit. Not only are they immortals, but they are not the regular immortals that we are accustomed to; they age and die like normal people, but when they die, they resurrect to a point in their life where they did a particular ritual that allowed them to rise from the dead. The only flaw, John loses all his memories upon being killed, while Pauline does not. Think Leonard from the neo-noir psychological thriller movie Memento.

Cyril explained that John and Pauline did not always have the power of immortality. As part of their presentation, I was shown hands-off gameplay that introduced the basic game mechanics, and the inventory system. Set during the Spanish Inquisition, the presentation began with John being suspected of using witchcraft. As such, his fellow citizens were dragging him through the streets. He eventually finds himself locked in a dark prison cell shackled to a wall. Alongside John, you can see horrifying torture devices, a recently deceased corpse, and oddly enough a pig chained to the wall accused of sorcery. To escape his current predicament, you must interact with the environment, namely examining items to break out of the shackles.

The game has a beautifully animated feel in a 3D environment. It boasts an original score and will have more than 25 main characters that will be fully voiced. After the presentation I wanted to know more about how John and Pauline came about their immortality, and why John loses all his memory when he resurrects and Pauline does not.

Yesterday Origins is set to release on September 29, 2016, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.