Encore! Demo

Most video games let you pick the optimal route when it comes to level navigation, but everything else story-related is set in stone. Even so, you can have a great time riding the wave, especially if the story is well-written and it keeps you guessing until the end. On the other hand, it’s much more fun to have control over your actions, since you can replay the experience multiple times to reach different endings.

Encore! is a role-playing game with basic graphics and simple gameplay mechanics that relies on story to make the experience worthwhile. In short, the whole purpose of the game is to be replayed many times, because it’s almost impossible to get to the end of the story the first time around. However, the writing is not as strong as you might hope, which means that it can get boring after a while.

In essence, you play the role of a human that recently passed away and is faced with the Grim Reaper. Instead of doing his duty, on the other hand, the Reaper offers you a deal: the power to be reincarnated as many times as you wish in order to save the world. After you succeed, he gets your soul, and since you are not in a position to refuse, that’s how the whole quest begins.

You get to choose a gender every time you are born, and from then on each decision affects the outcome of the story. Whether you smile at your parents when are an infant, live on the streets raised by stray dogs or become a prime minister, everything you do must somehow prevent the world from exploding. However, it’s quite possible for your adventure to end only a few seconds after you begin playing, because there’s no way of knowing how your decisions affect the plot.

Thus, it’s mandatory to have multiple playthroughs if you want to get somewhere. As previously mentioned, on the other hand, the writing is not stellar, and it can sometimes get a bit too silly to be taken seriously. It’s probably not meant to be a very serious game anyway, but it’s still pretty annoying. On top of it all, it would be nice to be able to skip the cutscenes, because you’ll watch them dozens of times over the course of the story.

All things considered, Encore! is actually a pretty engaging game, but it needs better writing, better graphics and a lot of work before it can be taken seriously. Hence, right now it’s just a bit too silly to keep players entertained for longer than a few minutes.

You can support the developers by being part of the game's Kickstarter campaign.