The Chinese indie game publisher Gamera Game released a demo for their upcoming game Black Sheep yesterday, and it has garnered a lot of attention from the gaming community.
Black Sheep focuses on school bullying. The story is set in a southern Chinese city in the late 90s; a naïve transfer student Xia Meng gets caught up in a meticulously designed fraud to frame and humiliate her. The gossipy boys and girls of Ling Yi 3rd High are ruthless with their words regarding Xia. Saying she is cursed, she is a con, she is too pretty of a girl to have a destiny of her own… and at midnight during the New Year’s Eve party, she ‘explodes’ as everyone hoped she would.
Rumors are shaping Xia’s identity in this high school
The hour-long demo allows players to see the story from the perspective of Li Yifan, a seemingly close friend of the protagonist Xia. But throughout the game, Li continues to have mixed-up flashbacks of a particular incident where not only did he turn a blind eye to the bullying directed at Xia, but he also became one of the bullies in the end. While Li has little memory about how things end up like ‘this’, the suicide of Xia is vividly played out in front of his eyes… In the demo, the player has to navigate Li through the flooded high school to find clues to clear Xia’s name.
The game adopts a 2D side-scrolling setting with a nostalgic vibe. The oil painting art direction also adds a mellow but mysterious feeling to the story. While the accurate portrayal of a 90s Chinese public school allows players to immerse themselves into the game right away. The interactive items are cleverly designed. Clues are written on birthday cards, bad-taste magazines, and passing notes in Chinese, English, and Pinyin cipher. The everydayness of the interactive elements cast a heavier shadow on the abuse Xia has been through.
According to the developer, the demo only shows the partial story of Chapter one. And Li’s side of the story is only one of the perspectives of the entire mystery. In the game's final version, all four key characters will be playable to paint a complete picture of the treacherous plot. Overall, the Black Sheep demo has proven to be a good entrée for the promised feast to come, and we cannot wait to experience the revelations therein.