COLINA: Legacy - An Interview With Chance6 Studios' Denis Santos
A house sits on a hill. Nobody belongs there, but something does lurk inside. The house reaches out to you, and before you know it, you’re in its clutches. As a young boy named Alex, you must discover why you are here and where the family that supposedly lived in the house has gone. The mysteries will unravel as you try to escape, but beware. Something is watching, and it wants Alex to stay.
COLINA: Legacy is a chilling survival-horror adventure in which players will push through the darkness to discover the secrets of this old family house. Players will use any source of light they can get to traverse the darkness and ward off the dangers that lurk within in an atmospheric and increasingly nightmarish environment. To find solace in the darkness of the house, GameWatcher called out to Chance6 Studios and COLINA: Legacy Director Denis Santos to talk about what horrors lie within. Denis was willing to part with some secrets and guide us along on what inspired COLINA: Legacy and how this journey will adapt to test our resolve with its many challenges and puzzles.
GameWatcher: Where we find ourselves at the top line of COLINA: Legacy is in the role of Alex, a mysterious person drawn to a mysterious house. Who is Alex and why is he here? Is there anything you can tell me about where we are when COLINA: Legacy starts?
Denis Santos: Alex is a teenager. At the start of the game, Alex and his parents have gone to visit his grandmother, who is a shut-in at this sort of isolated house. They’ve tried to contact her and there’s been no response, so they’re all visiting to sort of check in on her and see if she’s okay, but something bizarre happens. Suddenly, Alex wakes up in his grandmother’s bed in the house. He doesn’t know how he got there, he doesn’t know where his parents or grandmother are, he’s alone in this dark house, and he feels like something is watching him. All he can do is try to discover what’s going on and figure out what the mystery of this house is.
GameWatcher: This is a survival horror game built around challenging puzzles. What are we trying to survive? Is there a clear and present threat or way to lose?
Santos: It isn’t long before you discover that you’re very much not alone in this house, and we’re not talking about your family. There are these creatures lurking about and they pose various threats to you. For instance, you come across this doll that is hanging out in parts of the house. It’s unnerving on its own, but there’s more to it in this house than some simple scenery. I won’t spoil anything, but there are various hidden dangers and threats to Alex there and will attempt to harm him as you try to solve the mysteries in the house.
GameWatcher: Is there a way to defend ourselves from these dangers or are we simply running for our lives?
Santos: Yes. We wanted the player to have a way to fight back, although they are never truly safe. There is an amulet that you pick up on your way through the house and it provides certain ways to protect Alex from danger. It’s a supernatural thing that reacts to light and you get a flashlight to work with it, although the flashlight has limited battery life. There are also lamps and lanterns. The amulet does interesting things with these sources of light that will help Alex defend himself from the house’s dangers.
GameWatcher: COLINA: Legacy seems to feature a very heavy theme of light and darkness to build the atmosphere of the unknown with shadows and the use of flashlights, lanterns, and the amulet you spoke of. What about sound? Will what we hear matter as much as what we see?
Santos: Yes, of course. We’re huge fans of old horror games and we know that sound plays a big part in the experience – sometimes it’s more important than the visuals. We’re building a fantastic soundtrack to give this game a great atmosphere. I think of the rain for example. We use it visually with the storms to give an extra atmosphere to the creepiness of the house, but the mix of rain patter and this feeling that you might have to listen for danger gives an extra intensity to the danger of the house.
GameWatcher: COLINA: Legacy is said to feature a non-linear and multi-layered story. How does this work? Are there actually branching paths and multiple endings to this journey? How does the journey change from playthrough to playthrough?
Santos: There are a lot of paths to choose to progress the game. Many of them are related, but can be approached in different ways. For instance, you can find an item and solve a puzzle with it or there might be a way to solve a puzzle without finding that item. Alternatively, you can find that item and have it for later on and it might serve another purpose in the story. Essentially, the player can change the order in which they take on the game’s challenges. What the player does, what they collect, and in what order they progress can change the way the game plays out. This makes for different endings too. The main plot will always play out the same, but the player’s playstyle, paths, and choices will have an effect on what happens in the end. COLINA is pretty flexible, but there’s also quite a bit of actual mystery for players to unravel in their exploration of the house and the plot we’ve created.
GameWatcher: This particular game takes us behind the character in a third-person over-the-shoulder format. What inspired that decision? Will there be an option for first-person play?
Santos: As mentioned before, we are all fans of various old-school 3D horror games. We started from a first-person perspective, but the choice to work on a third-person over-the-shoulder format came from that enthusiasm. We felt the third-person style was more enjoyable to work with in nodding to that history and created good, frightening gameplay elements. Unfortunately, though we recognize there are fans of the first-person style, there won’t be a first-person format here. The way we’ve built it up, COLINA: Legacy’s viewpoint actually plays an important part in various segments of the game that first-person just wouldn’t get across properly.
GameWatcher: When you say old-school 3D horror, what inspired you most? What are the games that really speak to you as you work on the horror elements of COLINA: Legacy?
Santos: A lot of people might think of Resident Evil and there’s a little bit in there, but we really played more towards a Silent Hill feeling. We really enjoyed Silent Hill and really wanted to create that similar feeling here. Alone in the Dark’s settings and progression also heavily influenced us and, of course, Alan Wake. We really enjoyed that light mechanic they used in the game and there’s definitely some influence in the way we worked out our particular light mechanic here. There might be some references to a particular horror game directly in COLINA: Legacy as well, though you’ll just have to see for yourself.
GameWatcher: It would seem that we’re going to be thrown into some pretty challenging puzzles in COLINA: Legacy. Will there be any difficulty settings, hints, or padding to help people get through these challenges if they need it?
Santos: Mmh, not at the moment. Our philosophy is that everything a player could need to solve a puzzle is there for the taking. As I said, there’s multiple ways to approach most challenges as related to the game’s story. That’s true of puzzles too, but mainly we want to create this old-school feeling where players will really be challenged to overcome what we’ve set up. It invokes those old days when players might have come up against a challenge they couldn’t get across and might have had to step back or talk to friends before they could reach that moment of clarity where something works. Changes in difficulty will affect the combat and the players survival against the dangers of the house, but we want these puzzles to remain on the same level of challenge, no matter what.
GameWatcher: What comes after the release of COLINA: Legacy? Are there any plans for post-release content?
Santos: DLC? Probably not. When we set out with this, we worked to create a sort of self-contained story. Alex’s story is entirely there and there’s a lot to do with it in the core game. As for sequels, it will depend on how the players feel. The lore of the COLINA world that we have built is interesting and it extends beyond this single house. We’ve talked about it, played around with ideas, and we’d love to explore this universe further, but it will depend entirely on how players respond to it. I hope players enjoy exploring and unraveling this mystery because it would be really fun to do more with COLINA.
COLINA: Legacy looks slated to be a chilling offering to the horror genre with many twists and turns that will challenge the player to discover each nook and cranny of the mystery in the darkness. Particularly interesting is the free-form story and possibility for different paths that will most definitely lead to further playthroughs. This is definitely one to watch and we can look forward to it at the end of the year when COLINA: Legacy arrives on 29 December, 2017.
To learn more about COLINA: Legacy, you can check out the game’s official Steam page and website.
You can also get the latest news about COLINA: Legacy by following the game on its official Twitter and Facebook pages.
