Comic Book Panels Come Alive in Liberated

Published: September 11, 2019 12:30 PM /

Previewed By:


liberated gameplay

No one can deny that the modern entertainment landscape is heavily influenced by comics. Liberated doesn't just want to be influenced by comics, but it wants to bring them to life by integrating gameplay into the panels. It's a framework that works immediately and seamlessly. Liberated is one to watch out for.

Set in the near future, Liberated takes place in a world where technology has become nothing more than a tool for the government and powerful entities. Social media, cameras, and everything else you can think of is tracked and used against the citizenry for control. This, of course, has led to resistance, which comes in the form of a group calling themselves the Liberated.

Liberated takes place over four comic books, each of which makes up one chapter of the larger story. Every issue stars a different character with very different perspectives and experience in the world. For example, the first chapter your standard punk hacker kid who gets recruited into the Liberated for his skillset. Another chapter sees you following an old police vet helping the Liberated from the inside.

liberated gameplay preview

Gameplay takes the form of a 2.5D platformer, with light platforming elements, some stealth, and puzzle-solving. I only played a short section at the beginning of the game, so I did not see a ton. There's some basic shooting as well, which I only saw the beginnings of as well. There wasn't much to it and the challenge for me was more the fact I was using a controller and not keyboard and mouse. I hope that, since there are shooting mechanics, they are used creatively.

The other big gameplay element were QTEs. There are quite a few found throughout Liberated, though most of them are in some of the comic panels to engage you some more in the story. QTEs are almost always something I could take or leave, but here they aren't intrusive enough to have been annoying.

The big thing Liberated is selling itself on is the story, which could be interested. This dystopian future they talk of is definitely not unique, but the dialogue and the style of the comic are more than enough to keep me interested. A big selling point is the level of choice you'll have in the game too, which hopefully is meaningful and feels worth your time.

By concept alone, I am interested in giving Liberated a try when it comes out. If anything, I think the framework they have is great and hope to see more games use it.

Liberated is set to release this year on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

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Andrew Otton
| Editor in Chief

Andrew is the Editor in Chief at TechRaptor. Conned into a love of gaming by Nintendo at a young age, Andrew has been chasing the dragon spawned by Super… More about Andrew