Fragments Of Him

Fragments Of Him is being developed by Dutch indie company Sassybot Studio.  The company was set up back in 2012 and its main focus was to build games that offered a unique gaming experience for players to hopefully enjoy.  It will get its Steam release on the 3rd of May, the Xbox One version will follow shortly after and PS4 players will get a chance to play later this year.  The game will set you back $19.99 USD, 19.99 Euro or £14.99 if you live in the UK.

Fragments Of Him is a game that is all about love and loss.  At the start of the game you will be introduced to the main protagonist Will. Very shortly after this Will dies in a horrible car accident and the games story is then played out though the people that he leaves behind to deal with his tragic death.  After Will's death the game centres on 4 characters, his boyfriend Harry, his ex girlfriend Sarah, who has now become good friends with Will and Harry, his Grandmother Mary, who should offer up a family perspective on the sudden tragedy and finally, Will's own memories.  The story that will progress is one that will reveal how Will helped shape the lives of those that were closest to him and also how they deal with his sudden passing.

This is very much a story-driven narrative game, and as I said at the start, the main focus of Sassybot was to create a unique gaming experience.  Even though the game deals with death and the aftermath of it, the story is also meant to be uplifting, it tries to get you to open your heart and think.  Fragments Of Him has being in development since 2012 and the company's co-founder Elwin Verploegen had the following leading up to the games release.

“We have been on an amazing journey since we started development at a game jam more than three years ago, and it is wonderful that players will soon be able to experience our story.  We are regularly overwhelmed by how our audience is moved by the game, and how they appreciate a title combining emotional honesty on a difficult topic with such an uplifting ending.”

Emotion has always being a tricky thing to implement in games.  Very few have done it well and most have just been laughable to be honest.  As we move into a time of massive game budgets, some exceeding those of Hollywood movies, story telling in games still leaves a lot to be desired.  The Last Of Us on the PS3 is a great example of how to tell an emotional story in a game, it really sucks you in and it makes you give a damn about Joel and Ellie on their adventure across the US, but way to often games fall flat on their faces when it comes to story telling and certainly when it comes to empathy towards games characters.  Fragments Of Him looks like its going to try change all that, the games play time is rumoured to stand at about 2 and a half hours, but its quality not quantity that we're after here, if in those 2 and a half hours we finally have a game that makes us both shed a tear and smile, then Sassybot may have nailed that unique game formula they were after in their very first attempt.

Video By SassyBot