If you go to The Dome on World’s Edge, you can now discover a mysterious datapad in one of the main buildings. If you look at it before picking it up, you’ll notice it grants access to something having to do with the ARES Division. Picking it up briefly flashes a message across the screen, which reads that there are more sub-level rooms to discover and the entry point seems to be Singh Labs. Reddit user HIRUZENandENMA was the first to find the datapad and reveal the full message–their post is embedded below.
So how does this tie back into Titanfall? The Archaeological RESearch Division (ARES) is a part of the IMC, first encountered in-game during Titanfall 2’s memorable Effect And Cause level, which takes place on the planet Typhon. ARES was attempting to fix the Fold Weapon, an alien technology that could bend time and space, in order to use it as a planet killer. You destroy it in Titanfall 2, but Apex Legends has long since hinted that people have continued the work that ARES started.
Back when the Singh Labs were added to Kings Canyon during the Voidwalker event and Crypto first appeared in-game, there was a laptop that you could interact with that revealed that, before she was Wraith, senior research science pilot Renee Blasey was experimenting with finding a way to fold space time in order to travel between dimensions. Thanks to the Voidwalker animated short, we know Wraith is originally from Typhon–she could have a connection to ARES, and that connection could be the driving force behind what’s coming in Season 5.
Wraith wouldn’t be the first legend to discover she has a bone to pick with the IMC. Crypto was framed by The Syndicate, a company revealed in hacked emails to have ties to Hammond Robotics, which was once (like ARES) a part of the IMC. And Revenant hates Hammond Robotics for forcing him to be their immortal slave, going so far as killing the company’s sponsored champion, Forge, on live television.
The Final Fantasy 7 Remake makes some changes to the original, mainly by filling in subtle character details and story gaps. One of the bigger changes is to the villainous Sephiroth, who appears much earlier than he did in the original. In an interview on the Square Enix blog, producer Yoshinori Kitase explained the rationale behind the change.
“The way we handled Sephiroth in the original Final Fantasy VII was to hide him–hold him back,” Kitase said. “You may not know this, but I was inspired by the movie Jaws which took a similar approach of teasing this powerful presence, but never fully showing you the shark until later in the story. We wanted to build him up as this really big, powerful character in people’s minds. By only referring to him indirectly, it created this feeling of fear and oppression–so when he makes his first appearance, it’s a big deal.”
But, Kitase explained, Sephiroth has become too well-known nowadays. His iconic status means using that same approach of holding him back isn’t as effective as a storytelling mechanic.
The other reason, he said, was a function of the multi-part saga. Since this is just the first entry of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, he wanted to make sure to lay some narrative groundwork.
“Sephiroth is this massively overarching presence that looms over the whole Final Fantasy VII saga,” he said. “We wanted to make sure that aspect of him was present in this first game in the project–that’s why we have introduced him much earlier in the story now.”
The earlier introduction of Sephiroth may also play into the ending and setting the stage for the second part. For a thorough look at the ending and what it might mean for the future, read up on our (very spoiler-filled) FF7 ending explained.
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All four seasons of Farscape are currently available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
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When we think of iconic sci-fi franchises that paved the way for shows such as The Expanse or Killjoys, you typically hear names like Star Trek, Firefly, Stargate SG1, and Ronald D. Moore’s reimagining of Battlestar Galactica. And while those titles were pivotal in shaping the way we think of how modern spacefaring stories should be told, there’s one particular title that often gets lost in the mix. Farscape, running from 1999-2003, successfully blended the campiness often associated with the genre, while also incorporating some of the thematically darker, more character-driven stories that have become commonplace. If you find yourself cooped up at home and in need of a fantastic space adventure, Farscape will scratch that itch.
Farscape was created by Rockne S. O’Bannon (seaQuest DSV, Defiance) and produced by the Jim Henson Company, whose Creature Shop was responsible for many of the puppets used throughout the series. The story centers on astronaut John Crichton after his experimental spacecraft — Farscape I — is propelled to a different part of the universe via a wormhole. There, Crichton hitches a ride with a band of criminal misfits aboard a living Leviathan ship named Moya. For much of the series, Moya and its crew are on the run from a militaristic force known as the Peacekeepers.
While many of the TV shows out today run for eight or 10 episodes per season, Farscape followed the older model of 22-24 hour-long episodes. But even with these extended seasons, Farscape excelled at blending episodic and serialized narratives together so there were very few filler episodes throughout its four-season run. At the macro level, the story is about Crichton trying to get back to Earth so he can be reunited with his family. However, some of the series’ most memorable moments exist in the quieter, more character-driven storylines.
Take Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black), for example, a former Peacekeeper soldier who joins Moya’s crew. Since birth, Aeryn was trained to be a soldier, displaying very little empathy for anyone or anything. But as the series progresses, little by little, Crichton’s hopeful optimism begins to change the way she views the universe and its diverse inhabitants. Her arc is reminiscent of Finn’s from the most recent Star War trilogy, where we finally get to see a villainous stormtrooper as an actual person instead of just a mindless masked drone with zero personality.
The other members of Moya’s crew are equally delightful, from a helium-farting amphibious aristocrat named Dominar Rygel XVI (voiced by Jonathan Hardy) to a blue-skinned female priestess named Pa’u Zotoh Zhaan (Virginia Hey) to their Peacekeeper pursuers like Scorpius and Bialar Crais, every character has a unique personality and backstory.
After you’ve devoured all 88 episodes and you find yourself asking, “Shouldn’t there be more?”, well, you’re absolutely correct. Sadly, the series was cancelled midway through the fourth season after the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) found itself with new management that didn’t want to spend the money on a fifth and final season. Thankfully, co-producer Brian Henson acquired the rights to the franchise and partnered with O’Bannon to create a mini-series, titled Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (2004), which wrapped up the story for the fans. Since then, there have been graphic novels from BOOM! Studios, and even rumblings of a Farscape feature film.
Binge It! is IGN’s recommendation series. Movies, TV shows, books, comics, music… if you can binge it, we’re here to talk about it. In each installment of Binge It!, we’ll discuss a piece of content we’re passionate about — and why you should check it out.
Another week has come and gone, bringing a new wave of digital game deals, flash sales, and game giveaways. Many game publishers have ramped up their digital offerings in the past few weeks to provide cheap or free entertainment for everyone stuck inside, and the amount of free games we’ve seen has increased significantly. If you’re looking for some free games to try out this weekend on Steam, there’s a nice selection of freebies worth checking out.
Devolver Digital is currently having a huge Steam sale on virtually all of its games, and while you should definitely peruse the deals on Ape Out, Enter the Gungeon, Hotline Miami, and more, there are a couple of free-play options too. Through this weekend, you can play Devolver Bootleg, a collection of “eight original rip-offs” of Devolver games, like Hotline Milwaukee, Enter the Gun Dungeon, and Ape Out Jr. You can also play Absolver, an online multiplayer martial arts game where you fight against both other players and AI characters across the land of Adal, honing your skills to prove you’re worthy of joining the Absolver peacekeepers. The game earned a solid 8/10 in GameSpot’s Absolver review for its incredibly rewarding combat, beautiful art design, and deep fighter customization.
Several other games are free to play on Steam as well–be sure to check out Northgard, a real-time strategy game inspired by Norse mythology where you control a clan of Vikings, exploring and vying for control of a newly discovered continent. If you’re a fan of strategy games, be sure to play the excellent Total War: Warhammer II while it’s free for the next couple of days. And on a very different note, you can also jam out to Beat Hazard, a music-driven arcade shooter that’s also free to play.
While not available directly from Steam, you can snag a free Steam key over at Humble Bundle this weekend. The PC games site is currently offering the comical adventure game Manual Samuel for free–all you have to do is sign up for their newsletter, and you’ll get a copy of the game to own on Steam.
You can also grab the game Lost Daughter, an open-world action game about a man trying to find his daughter, directly from Steam. Reviews on Steam are pretty negative, but if you’re curious, it won’t cost you a dime to check out. Finally, if you already own Overcooked 2 on Steam, you can grab various DLC for the game, including Too Many Cooks and Surf ‘n’ Turf, for free. There’s also an Overcooked franchise sale going on right now if you’re interested in owning the base games.
You can check out all the current Steam freebies below. Be sure to check out our guide to all the free games you can claim to keep right now–there are a lot more free games available on other PC launchers as well as PS4, Xbox One, and mobile.
Free-play weekend games
Free-to-own games
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Streets of Rage 4, the long-awaited return for Sega’s iconic beat-em-up series, is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on April 30. You’ll be able to pick it up for $25 or via Xbox Game Pass.
Along with announcing the release date, developers Dotemu, Lizardcube, and Guard Crush Games also unveiled a new trailer showing off Streets of Rage 4’s Battle Mode. The legacy mode–which is returning from Streets of Rage 2 and Streets of Rage 3–lets you fight against friends in eight disparate arenas. Battle Mode is available for up to four players locally or two players online, whether you want to compete in a free-for-all brawl or partner up for some team-based action.
It’s been 25 years since the franchise’s last mainline entry. We got hands-on with the game back in 2018 and found it to be a nostalgic return to form for the classic series. Axel, Blaze, and Adam return along with a cast of new fighters and a striking hand-drawn art style. Olivier Derivière also delivers an original soundtrack, including contributions from series composers Yūzō Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima.
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2020 has become a year where most of us have a lot more free time and a lot fewer ways of filling that time. The Essentials is a new feature where we take a deep dive into an iconic pop culture property or character and tell you exactly what you need to read, watch or otherwise consume in order to get the full story. Because it’s not like there’s anything better to do…
This time we’re taking a closer look at Star Wars villain Darth Maul. While Maul immediately won a fan following in The Phantom Menace thanks to his cool look and nifty, double-bladed lightsaber, he’s not a character who plays a heavy role in the Skywalker Saga. At least, not if you’re only watching the movies. But Maul has taken on a brand new life over the years thanks to animated series like Star Wars: The Clone Wars and various spinoff novels and comics. Not only did he survive what seemed like his certain death in Episode I, but that was really just the beginning of a long and tragic story.
If you need to brush up on all things Darth Maul, especially with the character making a return appearance in the final season of The Clone Wars, we can help. Read on for a more or less chronological breakdown of the essential Darth Maul stories. Not all of these tales are still part of official Star Wars continuity, but each of them will help you better appreciate his surprisingly complex character arc.
Warning: some basic plot spoilers for Darth Maul’s story ahead!
We might as well start with the one book every Darth Maul fan should read if they want a fuller understanding of his origins and place in the larger Star Wars saga. The Wrath of Darth Maul is one of a series of YA novels recounting the history of various Star Wars icons. Fortunately, Lucasfilm has a strong track record when it comes to publishing YA books that can still appeal to adult readers.
This book provides a cohesive look at Maul’s story, from his Sith training to his relationships with pivotal characters like Mother Talzin and Savage Opress. It also fills in some crucial gaps in the Maul timeline and shows us more of what unfolded in-between Maul’s apparent death in The Phantom Menace and his return in The Clone Wars.
Star Wars: Darth Plagueis (2012)
Technically, this novel is no longer part of the official Star Wars canon. But because it was published shortly before Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm Ltd. and well into the original run of The Clone Wars, it still works as an exploration of the history of the titular Sith Lord and the rise of Emperor Palpatine. Until Disney gives us the definitive Darth Plagueis story, this novel is the best resource we’ve got.
Despite its name, Darth Plagueis is really Palpatine’s story more so than Plagueis’. We learn how a simple politician from Naboo was recruited to the Dark Side and see the genesis of Palpatine’s decades-long plot to destroy the Jedi and rule the galaxy. Maul himself plays a pretty small role in this story, but it’s still worth reading to get a better understanding of how the infant Nightbrother came to be in Palpatine’s care and the early role Maul played in his master’s plans.
Star Wars: Maul – Lockdown (2014)
One of the last Star Wars novels published before Disney eliminated the old Expanded Universe, Lockdown can also be viewed as a spinoff of the Darth Plagueis novel. Lockdown is set about a year before the start of Episode I, a time when Palpatine is beginning to set his grand plan in motion while also plotting his master’s demise. Palpatine and Plagueis dispatch Maul to a remote prison colony in order to acquire a deadly weapon. And once there, Maul finds himself unleashing his skills and fighting in a gladiatorial arena.
If not the most important Darth Maul story in terms of his overall character arc, Lockdown is nonetheless a showcase for his ferocity and tenacity. In its own way, it also reminds us that Maul is a very tragic figure, one who was only ever treated as a useful but disposable tool by Palpatine.
Star Wars: Darth Maul – Shadow Hunter (2001)
Shadow Hunter was among the first Star Wars novels to attempt to flesh out Maul’s mysterious background and relationship to Darth Sidious. A prequel to Episode I, Shadow Hunter sees Maul dispatched by his master to hunt down a Trade Federation defector, a Jedi Padawan and others who have evidence of Palpatine’s secret plans. Picture a Star Wars version of a Terminator movie and you have some idea of what to expect.
Again, the fact that this story was published well before the Disney era renders it non-canon, but it’s still an enjoyable look at Maul’s activities prior to Episode I. Newer versions of the book also include a short story called “Restraint,” which chronicles Maul’s first mission and attempts to draw in new story elements introduced in The Clone Wars.
“Old Wounds” (2005) & “Resurrection” (2001)
Long before The Clone Wars took the idea of Darth Maul surviving the events of Episode I and made it official canon, Dark Horse Comics toyed with that plot twist in a pair of fascinating, albeit hypothetical stories. It’s worth hunting down both, if only to see the origins of this surprising Star Wars plot twist.
“Old Wounds” (from 2005’s Star Wars: Visionaries) features Maul tracking Obi-Wan Kenobi to Tatooine, threatening the life of an infant Luke Skywalker and perishing in a rematch with his old nemesis. While not in-continuity even in the pre-Disney era, this story did wind up directly influencing Maul’s return on The Clone Wars, right down to his distinctive, raptor-like cyborg legs.
“Resurrection” (originally printed in 2001’s Star Wars Tales #9) settles a popular fan debate – who would win in a fight between Darth Maul and Darth Vader? Set shortly before Episode IV, this story features Vader hunting the Rebels who stole the Death Star plans and encountering a resurrected Maul. In true Highlander fashion, there can be only one Dark Lord of the Sith.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Seasons 3-5 (2011-2013)
This animated series is where Maul’s story really took on new life. The Clone Wars bridges the three-year gap between Episodes II and III and chronicles the full scope of the destructive conflict between the Republic’s clone army and the Separatists’ droid armada. The series focuses on both iconic heroes and villains from the prequel movies as well as characters we never even knew about before, like Anakin’s Padawan Ahsoka Tano.
The Clone Wars took the fanciful notion of Maul having survived his battle with Obi-Wan and made it an official part of Star Wars canon. Maul’s story begins in Season 3, which introduces his brother Savage Opress and a brand new mythology involving the Nightsisters of Dathomir and a Dark Side witch named Mother Talzin. Talzin dispatches Savage to find his long-lost brother. After returning home and being restored to some semblance of full health, Maul and his brother begin an ongoing campaign to build an army of criminal cartels and claim vengeance on both Obi-Wan and Darth Sidious. Sidious may have orchestrated the Clone Wars conflict, but Maul and Mother Talzin wind up posing a serious threat to his control of the Dark Side.
Maul is a recurring character throughout Seasons 3, 4 and 5. Here’s a list of all the relevant Maul/Savage Opress episodes if you’d prefer not to binge the entire series (all of which can be streamed on Disney+):
Star Wars: The Clone Wars was abruptly canceled after its fifth season in 2013, leaving a great many plot threads unresolved. While some of the in-progress episodes were eventually finished and released as part of the truncated Season 6, other unused scripts were adapted into comics or novels instead. That’s where Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir was born.
Son of Dathomir picks up where “The Lawless” left off in Season 5, as a defeated Maul has been imprisoned by his former master. But after being liberated by his Death Watch commandos, Maul unleashes the full power of his Shadow Collective and declares war on Darth Sidious and Count Dooku. This story serves as an essential bridge between Maul’s previous Clone Wars appearances and his return in the climactic Siege of Mandalore conflict. It explains how Maul escaped Sidious’ clutches and gives fans far more closure regarding Mother Talzin’s role in the war than Season 6 was able to deliver.
A major gap in Maul’s post-Episode I story is finally filled thanks to the long-awaited seventh and final season of The Clone Wars. Season 7 is divided into three, four-episode story arcs. It’s the last of these which features Maul as a major villain. The final Clone Wars arc focuses on the Siege of Mandalore, as the titular world becomes the site of one of the last and most destructive conflicts in the war. As that battle plays out, Ahsoka Tano leads her own battalion of Clonetroopers and confronts Maul on Mandalore. At least some of this arc takes place during the events of Episode III, and fans finally learn how both Maul and Ahsoka survived the devastation of Order 66.
Star Wars fans who only follow the movies got a big surprise when Maul showed up alive and well (albeit missing two legs) near the end of Solo. Maul has very little screen time in this movie, but it still helps flesh out his role as a major criminal kingpin in the murky years between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. His cameo shows us how his previous role as leader of the Shadow Collective evolved into Maul reigning over a vast organization known as Crimson Dawn. Plus, it’s pretty neat seeing original actor Ray Park and Clone Wars voice actor Sam Witwer come together to reinvent this iconic villain.
While the final season of The Clone Wars wraps up Maul’s Prequel-era story, we’ve already seen where his journey takes him closer to the Original Trilogy era. Maul appears in several episodes of Star Wars Rebels, a series which focuses on a plucky band of Rebels lighting the way in a time before Luke Skywalker and Han Solo started hogging all the glory. Ahsoka also plays a big role in the series, making it a true successor to The Clone Wars.
Maul first appears in the two-part Season 2 finale, “Twilight of the Apprentice,” where he becomes an unlikely, if temporary, ally to Ahsoka and friends as they travel to the Sith world of Malachor and battle Darth Vader himself. Maul later resurfaces several times during Season 3. The episodes “The Holocrons of Fate” and “Visions and Voices” deal with Maul’s growing interest in budding Jedi Ezra Bridger.
And finally, Maul’s story comes full circle in “Twin Suns,” as he tracks down Obi-Wan Kenobi and sets about finally claiming his long-awaited vengeance. The resulting confrontation is easily one of the greatest Star Wars moments of all time. Full stop.
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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
This week a wise spectre from our past returns to tell us all about their time with Call of Duty: Warzone and Korean cooking. Joining them is Matt who’s been playing some Valorant, Cardy who’s been playing with Echo, Overwatch’s latest hero, and Joe who’s also been trying to destroy a monster in a mountain via the medium of pinball action. We also go through our pitches for what we’d like GTA 6 to be and talk excessively about food.
There’s another tightly contested Endless Search and a big bunch of feedback to boot.
Remember, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, please do: [email protected]
“It’s about nothing,” George tells Jerry as they discuss his upcoming meeting with NBC executives at Monk’s Diner. During the fourth season of Seinfeld, a show-within-the-show storyline emerged as characters Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza pitch an idea for a new sitcom to NBC. Originally airing in 1992, this episode – and subsequent season – not only broke ground in terms of being meta without breaking the fourth wall, it introduced a tagline that has stuck with the iconic comedy for decades. That Seinfeld is, at its core, a show about nothing. “Everyone’s doing something, we’ll do nothing,” George emphatically states.
Even though it existed in a very specific time and place, the comedy in Seinfeld is as timeless as it is influential. From Puffy Shirts to Close Talkers to Soup Nazis to an irate postal worker by the name of Newman, it was a masterclass in comedic storytelling that focused on everyday social interactions.
The ‘90s also had its fair share of ground-breaking comedic video games, and they were mostly point-and-click adventures. We’re talking about the likes of The Secret of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle and Sam n’ Max Hit the Road. In these games, vibrant pixel-art, 2D animation, and wonderful writing came together to create genuinely funny and memorable moments.
Seinfeld Adventure, the new project from artist and game designer Jacob Janerka and animator Ivan Dixon, takes this idea and runs with it. Jacob, who solo developed the point-and-click adventure Paradigm (read IGN’s Paradigm review here), and Ivan, who directed the animation in Childish Gambino’s “Feels Like Summer,” in addition to the pixel intro for The Simpsons, are no strangers to the age of Hammer Time. Seinfeld Adventure is positioned as something you could have played back then – a floppy-disk or CD-ROM tie-in that feels true to the show.
And much like the show-within-the-show called Jerry, this game-about-a-show isn’t a done deal. Just as Jerry and George pitched the network execs on their concept of a show about nothing, Jacob and Ivan need to convince Seinfeld co-creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David to give the greenlight for their passion project to become a real thing – a game about nothing, as it might have existed in the 1990s… in the only way it could, as a point-and-click adventure.
The Beginning
“One of the first things I wanted to do as an artist was create pixel art,” Jacob Janerka tells me. “I didn’t have a lot of experience so I wondered what I could create as a fan that would be fun. I made George and it was this low-effort pixel art exercise. I posted it on Imgur and it blew up. But I love Seinfeld, and I love pixel art, so I kept working on it and eventually made a fancier GIF that went viral. That was when Ivan contacted me.”
“Hey Jacob, guess what? About ten years ago I started making a Seinfeld point-and-click adventure game. What a coincidence. I never finished it, but I have a playable demo,” Ivan Dixon recites the original message he sent to Jacob. Created while he was still in university, Ivan recalls that the art in his playable adventure was somewhat crude, something he warned Jacob about as they discussed the idea of working together on a Seinfeld adventure game.
“The way we met and became friends was through our Seinfeld projects,” Jacob explains, with both feeling strongly that the underlying idea – a Seinfeld point-and-click adventure game – was a natural fit. Perhaps the only fit. “Just like other great discoveries in the world, multiple people think of it at the same time,” Jacob adds, jokingly.
“What appeals to me about the Seinfeld-verse, is that it’s really rich,” Ivan explains. “It’s got locations that you return to again and again, like an adventure game. There’s also a lot of fun dialogue-based comedy, like in an adventure game. And there’s often recognisable props and repeated gags around things like the Pez Dispenser or the Black and White Cookie or Fusilli Jerry.” These objects feel purpose-made to become adventure game inventory items – they’re familiar, everyday objects, but reinvented in the context of the story.
All iconic Seinfeld objects, all inventory items in Seinfeld Adventure.
“It’s interesting that Seinfeld existed during the golden era of ‘90s point-and-click adventure,” Jacob adds. “Sitcom sets are very much like the sets you see in an adventure game. Also, the style lends itself to overcoming a lot of creative hurdles that you might have if you were to create a more modern Telltale-style adventure. For example, you could create the entire game without actually voicing the characters.”
“We definitely talked a lot about what the project needs to be,” Jacob continues. “We felt that recreating episodes, while kind of interesting, wasn’t that exciting. We feel that this is a perfect opportunity to create new content for Seinfeld in a way that’s appealing. Would Jerry or Larry even want new content? Well, in a way this is a work-around where they don’t have to meet the high expectation of creating brand-new episodes. This is both timeless and stuck in time, a place where we can create completely new plots.”
One look at the sets and the pixel renditions of Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer created so far and you’d probably agree. But what’s it actually going to be about?
The Seinfeld sitcom analysed and played with everything from etiquette, social mores and taboos, through to relationships, dating and the freshness of fruit. There’s an expectation, then, that Seinfeld Adventure would present a Seinfeld take on, well, something. That something is email.
In Seinfeld Adventure’s first episode, “The Email”, Jerry’s dating a publicist who unwittingly gives Kenny Bania Jerry’s email address. Naturally, the Ovaltine-observer and fan of soup begins to flood Jerry’s inbox with a wide range of emails. This breach of trust prompts Jerry to break up with his girlfriend, but he doesn’t want to confront her or do it face to face. Kramer suggests doing it over email, and he does. This then triggers a number of narrative twists and turns involving tickets to the premiere of “Rochelle, Rochelle 2”, enlisting the skills of someone who has contempt for the newfound electronic mail industry, and the appearance of a certain Gore-Tex jacket.
Newman will play his part in Seinfeld Adventure.
“Back during the show’s run email was a new thing and so was the internet,” Ivan explains. “We thought that that would be funny to explore. It also ties the world to where we are now, where the internet and a connected world is everything. In fact, Jacob and I both connected over email and one of the main reasons we’re able to make this together is because of technology like email. It feels nostalgic but also has this contemporary edge by being a break-up story over email.”
“Initially the idea was that maybe you just play as Jerry or George,” Jacob tells me. “But then that began to feel like a George spinoff. The only way it works is with playing and controlling multiple characters. Like with Day of the Tentacle, using all the characters to complete an objective, which in a way is what the show is.”
“It’s almost a reference to the episode where George leaves his girlfriend that angry phone message and they wait for her to get into her apartment and replace the tape before she can hear it,” Ivan admits as we discuss a storyline in “The Email” that involves Jerry looking to delete the email before she can read it. “I love George and Jerry’s chemistry when they’re trying to pull off a kind of heist.”
As Jacob and Ivan started fleshing out Seinfeld Adventure, they began by looking at the source material – the show itself – as both inspiration and template. This means a three-act structure with a comedic story told in roughly thirty minutes. It means multiple locations with multiple characters meeting up and doing their own thing. And it means narratives intertwining and looping over each other as they reach an unexpected conclusion.
I’m speechless! I am without speech.
“I think The Contest is not only a great envelope-pushing episode that discussed masturbation on television,” Ivan says. “But it’s a good example of how you can do a half-hour story where each character has their own little arc. There’s this kind of symbiotic nature to the story. You’re not just interchangeably playing as these characters through different scenes; their actions affect each other. And they bounce off each other in funny ways. If the role of Jerry is to perform a certain task within this scene, then some of that will spill over into Elaine’s story.”
That said, only three of the iconic four characters that make up Seinfeld’s principal cast will be playable. “That was one of the big realisations we had,” Ivan confirms. “The decision that Jerry, George, and Elaine would be playable, but Kramer wouldn’t. In a way you empathise and relate to them, with Kramer acting more like an agent of chaos. You want him to play a role in all the stories, but just like in the show he’ll arrive at the perfect time, say or do something and then that messes everything up. Or, some twist of fate lands him in a favourable situation.”[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=That%20was%20one%20of%20the%20big%20realisations…%20that%20Jerry%2C%20George%2C%20and%20Elaine%20would%20be%20playable%2C%20but%20Kramer%20wouldn’t.%20In%20a%20way%20you%20empathise%20and%20relate%20to%20them,%20with%20Kramer%20acting%20more%20like%20an%20agent%20of%20chaos.”]
“What’s been a really fun thing about the exercise is that we’re trying to write in the voice and tone of Seinfeld,” Jacob adds. “We don’t want to it feel completely different. Of course, there will be differences because it’s us and it’s an adventure game. But we’re approaching it from the position of if you were to hire someone today to write brand-new episodes of Seinfeld.”
“There’s going to be puzzles and object-based stuff and conversational things you need to say, but mostly we want it to feel like you’re controlling a Seinfeld story,” Ivan continues. “If you’re George in a conversation, you could yell, you could lie, you could cry, and they’re all funny responses. Some of them will drive the narrative while others just kind of add replay value.”
The Little Details
“Seinfeld was a show that constantly made call backs to earlier episodes,” Ivan tells me. “Often obscure references from seasons past, which was something the finale relied upon. We knew we didn’t want to make a fan service thing, we wanted to create new content in this world that would fit. But we also wanted to include the little Easter Eggs, and with an original story we can still reference those things while creating something that feels like a continuation of sorts.”
Jacob and Ivan have obsessed over every little detail. “When we did the second design pass, we kept going back and forth looking at the characters, and we both had different ideas of what it would look like,” Jacob says, explaining the long process behind getting the look just right. “If we needed to keep them smiling or not smiling. That was a thing that we talked about a lot. One of the hardest parts about creating the backgrounds and sets was finding consistent shots because the sets change a lot in Seinfeld. Especially Jerry’s apartment, trying to find shots of the whole room as a reference wasn’t easy.”
The whole level, Jerry, level.
Hulu actually recreated the iconic set in 2015 as part of a promotion to celebrate having all episodes online to stream. It was a like-for-like recreation that impressed many, but there was one glaring issue. Discerning fans noticed that Jerry’s computer changed from a 1990s Mac to a 1990s PC. Jerry was, of course, a Mac guy.
“I found an article that listed every computer he had and the exact Macintosh we ended up using was one featured in later seasons,” Jacob confirms. “Basically, all of these tiny details you never think about we had to think about. Trying to find the perfect screenshots of one side of the room or what exact painting was on the wall. The Porsche image Jerry has on his wall changes a couple of times throughout the show.”
These little details can be seen throughout Seinfeld Adventure, from the way the cursor of Jerry’s hand opens up when hovering over the inventory in a way that mimics his stand-up delivery, to the various tapes labelled with various bits from episodes past that can be seen on Jerry’s shelf. It’s an approach that spills over into the presentation, in which mimicking the feel and flow has been the template. Much like a typical episode of Seinfeld, “The Email” opens with Jerry doing stand-up, with players given the option to choose each line as it’s delivered to the crowd. It’s a killer concept, and the duo hopes to involve Jerry himself in the creation of the material.
There’s also a freeze-frame at the end with title cards, with both Jacob and Ivan actively considering the use of a laugh-track as a bonus feature to recreate that authentic Seinfeld experience. “Although we would have the game played straight without a laugh track,” Jacob ponders. “A fun idea would be to include an option in the menu where after every joke, there’s a laugh track.”
“You’d definitely want a big holler when Kramer enters too,” Ivan adds.
The Pitch
“One of the biggest comments I got when I posted the early stuff on Reddit was from people saying that they don’t play video games, but this would be the first one that they’d play,” Jacob recalls. “I feel like Seinfeld fans would go to the effort of trying it out. And then it would appeal to, you know, the meme generation.”
Even now over twenty years since the show finished its run after nine seasons, Seinfeld’s popularity hasn’t waned. “They managed to make a comedy that was compelling to a wide audience,” Ivan explains. “It wasn’t all about young people problems either. They made relatable, older characters. I remember watching Seinfeld with my folks and when George’s parents came on the screen, they would laugh so hard because it reminded them of their own parents.”
“We would love it to be funny enough that people would want to replay it,” Jacob adds, noting that watching and re-watching classic episodes of Seinfeld has become a pastime in and of itself. “You’ve knocked off work and you just want to have quick play through of the game. I love the idea of it being episodic, that it can be played in bite-sized chunks. Especially for the target audience. It will take less than an hour, have a beginning, middle, and end and you’ll laugh. There’s really not many, if any, games that you can say that about.”
Touche.
As a labour of love for both creators, they’re treating Seinfeld Adventure as a pitch to rights holders, Jerry and Larry, and as something that can sit alongside the show as we all stream episodes on Netflix, Hulu, Stan, and other platforms. The trailer itself is a mock commercial for an actual product from the ‘90s. “The Email” serves as proof of concept, the story has been written with all puzzles planned out. A playable intro exists too, featuring Jerry’s stand-up and a tutorial that requires making a bowl of cereal to “help him think”.
“It’s designed to be as modular as possible,” Jacob tells me. “If we were to get funding, the perfect scenario would be that we got to make three or four episodes. And we would involve writers from the original show.”
“The kind of dream scenario for us,” Ivan concludes, “is that whoever owns the streaming rights says we love this idea, let’s make a bunch of them. A season of them, and we get the original voice cast to voice them. I could just die if that happened.”
As one of the fab four would say, Seinfeld Adventure is a sponge-worthy idea. But it still needs your help, so put on your Sunday-best Puffy Shirt and help spread the word. Use the hashtag #SeinfeldGame across social media, keep the YouTube trailer playing on repeat, check out the website, and let @IvanRDixon and @JacobJanerka know that you’re master of your domain.
