One fine day, in a remote island community off the coast of Maine, nine cats wake up to discover that their humans have disappeared. To survive, they must band together to uncover the mysteries of their storied island home - and ultimately, it is up to them to decide:
Are the humans worth bringing back?
- Explore a truly open world - The entirety of the island will be accessible, with each building containing a hand-crafted interior. No "Invisible Walls," or buildings with no purpose.
- A realistic weather & tidal system - From foggy nights, to morning downpours, to clear, blue skies - you never know what those southeast winds might bring in -
and you'll never want to miss a beautiful sunset!- Nine Playable Cats - Each with their own stories, preferences, skills, & weaknesses - as you get to know them, you'll know which one might be the best for a certain job!
- Delve into a rich, 200-year alternate history - Learn family lineages, study old maps, and read books & letters better left hidden.
- Your decisions matter! - How you approach life after humanity will decide how the game plays out in the end.
- Replayability - Three different possible endings
(and perhaps more!)
- Experience a hand-crafted world - From the very beginning, we strove to create a world that isn't just "that place between mission points." The island might be small, but there is a LOT to discover and re-discover!
- Original, adaptive soundtrack - From the mood of the cats, to the time of day, to the weather, the soundtrack changes. Each player's musical experience will be different!
- An expanded emotional palette - Games are a wonderful storytelling - and all stories are not happy ones.
- Relax! - Sometimes, you just want to hang out with the cats and watch the sun set. A mix of casual/slow gaming.
- Meet new friends - and new enemies! - The humans might be gone, but old power structures remain. Currying favor with the deer might make the Seagulls less willing to talk!
Peace Island began in November of 2017, when a Eric (a line cook) and Laura (a care worker) noticed a severe lack of rich, single-player, story-driven experiences in a game world where the major publishers were intent on developing the next open-world shooter.
They knew it wasn't going to be easy - developing a video game of this size typically requires dozens of people and significant funding. They just had themselves, and whatever pocket change they could set aside after bills and rent. They worked on the project in whatever few hours they could set aside outside of their sleep and regular jobs.
The world took shape, slowly but steadily. Occasionally, they could convince a friend to donate a piece of artwork, or save enough to hire a coder for an hour or two to help build the first, simple systems.
From the very start, emphasis was put on crafting a beautiful world- one that would not simply serve as "that space between one destination and another," but as a place the player wants to linger in for just perhaps one more sunset.
After two years of slow but steady progress, Peace Island "went viral" in the fall of 2019, finally allowing the project to expand beyond a single bedroom, an outdated computer, and a few notebooks.
Since then, the Peace Island project has expanded to include a a core team of 7, and an expanded talent pool of over 40 creatives from around the world.
As we enter the fist days of our fifth year of development, we are more excited than ever to share the world & story of Peace Island.
