OPEN ROADS

Fullbright’s star-studded road trip looks to new horizons

Developer Fullbright

Publisher Annapurna Interactive

Format PC, consoles

Origin TBA

Release US 2021

No one at Fullbright knew what 2021 would look like when it brought its third game to Annapurna Interactive in 2018. Even so, it’s hard to deny the allure of the open road is particularly keen when long-distance travel is off the table. The studio’s goal back then was no less appealing to those of us isolated from family and friends: they wanted to make a game where you had some company. As in Gone Home and Tacoma, you’re investigating places and piecing together a history – in this case, properties that reveal the hidden past of protagonist Tess’s late grandmother – but this time you’re not alone. In those games we looked into the past to get a glimpse into the lives of others. Now, through the process of doing that, we’ll get to know the people inhabiting those spaces in the present.

The relationship between Tess (Kaitlyn Dever) and her mother Opal (Keri Ryan) brings a new dynamic to a Fullbright game. “When you find something and your mom tells you something about it – even if she’s not lying to you, it’s still her interpretation, you’re seeing it through her perspective, and so there’s an interesting tension to that,” creative director Steve Gaynor says. “What do I see with my own eyes? What is this other person telling me about it? And what does all that really mean if you don’t take it strictly at face value?”