Alternate Trips Through Time: Victorian England, Part II

The first part of this feature detailed the increased usage of the Victorian England setting in video games, a trend that became noticeable in the last year. It’s partly happening as a response to the number of titles taking place in modern settings, from developers who want their title to stand out. But some teams are also aware that people like experiencing the past through different mediums, and video games are far from an exception. Said teams also know what settings work best for them, so they can inject their creativity into it to make the world their personalized take on alternate history.

The number of titles using it isn’t huge, but that it’s tough not to notice the uptick in its popularity. We’ve gone over recent releases, so let’s focus on examples releasing in the near future.

Bloodborne is, in fact, an example of a title releasing in the very near future, hitting stores worldwide throughout this week. In approaching this newest title being made for Sony on PlayStation 4, developer From Software wanted to incorporate a style different from games they’ve previously created. However, they wanted to simultaneously let their potential audience know precisely what it is and who it’s from immediately upon laying eyes on it, to give them a sense of familiarity. I have no experience with game development, but I’m willing to bet that wasn’t easy.

To clarify, they didn’t want to use the same dark medieval fantasy setting featured in the Souls games or their spiritual predecessors, the King’s Field and Shadow Tower games. Yet they also wanted to maintain the dark setting and similar (but not identical) gameplay mechanics and features. As it turns out, that setting was Victorian England, one draped in darkness and fear. It’s evident from just looking at the screenshots that they realized their vision, but you’ll see a whole different beast upon seeing it in motion.

Bloodborne’s gameplay isn’t quite as methodical as its aforementioned predecessors, but it nonetheless requires skill and accuracy from the player. PS4 owners who enjoyed the Souls games have a treat to look forward to this week.

Despite initially appearing to take place in Japan’s Edo period after its reveal, it was surprising to learn that most of The Great Ace Attorney’s story will happen the Victorian Era. This will make it somewhat of a sequel to Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, which occurred in a setting that’s not quite Victorian London.

While there, the protagonist and his assistant, who haven’t received “Americanized” names yet (assuming they ever will), will come across both Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Though the former takes on an appearance anyone familiar with the character would expect, the latter is a precocious little girl. They had to insert someone that young into this, but hopefully she doesn’t come with a bunch of “moe” tropes. The developers are saying she won’t, which will work well for making the setting more, but not entirely, authentic.

Having most of the game set in Victorian England is good idea partly because it could work as a change of pace for the Ace Attorney games, but mainly because it  should make it easier to localize. That doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to come over, but it means the localization team should have an easier time with this one compared to westernizing Japanese settings in previous games — though it made for some hilarious jokes.

The Great Ace Attorney has been out of the spotlight for a while, but it should resurface in the very near future. It would be nice if those outside Japan get a chance to play it.

There isn’t much known about Assassin’s Creed Victory at the moment, as Ubisoft hasn’t officially announced it yet. Thanks to some leaks from late last year, we do know that it’s a successor to last year’s Assassin’s Creed Unity, and will utilize a Victorian London setting. That’s surprising, because after the last two sagas, you’d think the company would want to get a little more out of the French Revolution era.

Incidentally, Victory will be the most realistic title of the three discussed in this post. The plethora of AC development teams insert historical figures into their titles, regardless of whether they fit into the actual plot (and most of them don’t). But let’s forget about the story for now, especially the real world components. Typically the most memorable aspects of AC games involve exploring the world the developers have created, and if the team can faithfully replicate the beautiful environments Victorian London is known for, we could have something special on our hands.

You know, assuming they release it without a plethora of glitches, a huge part of what deservedly tanked Unity’s reputation before it could make it into the hands of consumers who didn’t pre-order it. It’s apparently due for release this year, but perhaps Ubisoft learned a big lesson last year, unless they enjoy giving free stuff away.

Despite a moderate amount of titles using it, there’s still room for creativity in the Victorian England setting. No one would want to see it overused to the point that people get bored with it, so there’s no problem with keeping its use moderate, like it is now.