Headliner

Headliner is an adventure game that allows players to take control of the world's media and then watch how their decisions affect the life and career of the main character and the world around. The production is distinguished by a significant non-linearity and short gameplay time. The title was developed by the independent studio Unbound Creations (creators of Karaski: What Goes Up... and Postmortem: One Must Die).

Plot

Have you ever wondered what would have happened if you had controlled the world's media? What would their message be then? More importantly, what impact would you have on your friends, the world and even yourself? It all starts with a simple selection of articles on your desk - a green or red stamp will decide what happens to them next....

Mechanics

Headliner game can be roughly divided into two parts. The first is mainly reading the text and making choices that determine what will be published in the media under the control of the company in which we work. We also have the possibility to influence the content in such a way as to imprint our ideological stigma on it. In this part of the game the world is most often observed from the first person perspective.

The second half of the game is to move around the city and observe how it was influenced by the decisions we made - it is possible that we provoked protests or other events that could get out of control or even affect the life, company or family of our hero (we can talk to his or her relatives). In these fragments the world is most often presented from the side - from the side-scroll perspective.

Game modes

In Headliner we can only play alone. The gameplay is based on a feature campaign, but the title also offers limited online functionality - it allows you to share your choices with the community and the ending you get, as well as see what choices other players made.

Technical aspects

Headliner has a quite simple graphic design, which combines two-dimensional and three-dimensional elements. In many cases, graphics are based on animated images, but sometimes we also see an environment made up of three-dimensional models (although often stylized in such a way as to resemble 2D graphics and observed from a perspective typical of two-dimensional games).