Posted in: Annapurna Interactive, Games, Video Games | Tagged: Annapurna Interactive, Outerloop Games, Thirsty Suitors

We Got A Look At Thirsty Suitors With The Developers

A short time ago we were able to take part in a group demo of Annapurna Interactive's new game Thirsty Suitors as narrated by the developers. The game has been developed by Outerloop Games, which while based in Seatle, has members of the team living around the globe. The goal of the studio is that they intend to create games about underrepresented cultures and themes that you wouldn't normally find in a video game. This particular title certainly hits that mark as it contains a unique perspective that still touches on common themes of love, relationships, family, and loneliness.

The primary story focuses on a woman named Jala who is returning home after ending her most recent relationship. Based on her mood and thoughts, it becomes clear that she ended it, and it wasn't in the best way possible. She starts to figure out what to do with her life as her mind goes into various states, narrated by the voice of her sister, who she rarely talks to these days. The opening sequence showed Jala riding her skateboard through a series of complicated rails, as various people in her life start speaking to her. This includes her own parents as she has to confront some of the opinions of her mother, who serves as the judgemental matriarch of the family. Throughout the game, you will be challenged with reconciling with her exes, attempting to mend broken friendships, and doing it all before your sister gets married.

Acors the entire game, you'll end up having to confront many of Jala's exes in cinematic, turn-based battle sequences. One of the scenes we got to watch was her coming across an ex from elementary school who had weird visions of them one day getting married. She is confronted with the idea that he's still got a thing for her, so you need to war him off in battle. You'll use a combination of tactics to make this happen, he threw everything he had at us, including gloating about working at his dad's car dealership to show he was employed and danced a sensual dance to try and get out attention. But ultimately fell to calling on the spirit of Jala's mom to show he wasn't worthy of her.

The game also includes these moments of skating around, which tell more of the interpersonal story of Thirsty Suitors. Specifically, as we go down memory lane and confront our inner demons. They tend to follow you everywhere, creating guilt, self-doubt, curiosity about what could have been, and a lot of other nagging issues in our heads that aren't worth mentioning. Through these sequences, we confront them and make out way toward a better path of acceptance and understanding of ourselves. But it isn't an easy journey and you'll need to throw on some sick grinds to make it happen.

One of the aspects of the game we didn't get to see but were told a lot about was the cooking aspect, in which you now attempt to at least please your mother in a way she might find acceptable by seeing that you've learned to cook for yourself. And that you managed to learn how to make recipes that she may have taught you in the past. Like any mother, Jala's is not easily fooled by sloppy kitchen work and passable food, you'll actually need to put some love and care in here to make her happy.

Overall, checking out Thirsty Suitors was a delight and I am excited to see the final product when they finish the game. Right now it doesn't have a proper release date, or even an indication we'll see it in Early Access soon. But hey, when it shows up, it will be a lovely addition to anyone's library.

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