Breaking the visual novel mold with Philippine indie game hybrid Exogenesis

If you associate visual novels with cheezy, dramatic, romantic story lines, Exogenesis: Perils of Rebirth is not that. And that’s precisely what makes it interesting.

Exogenesis is an adventure game/visual novel hybrid by Philippine game developer Team Kwan. It features point-and-click gameplay and focuses heavily on storytelling. The story is set in post-apocalyptic Japan and puts you in the shoes of the leader of the renowned treasure-hunting team Durchhalten and Yuudai Sayashi (also known as Yu) who is on a journey to bring his sister back to life. Here’s the game’s official trailer to give you a better idea:

In cooperation with Quickfire Games, the team has recently started a Kickstarter campaign with a target of $32,000 and is also currently on Steam Greenlight.

The inspiration for Exogenesis

Like any other game, Exogenesis started as an idea. According to game designer, writer, and director Nicolo Sanchez, the idea of having an adventure game/visual novel hybrid came to him when he pitched the visual novel Sphere at Startup Weekend Manila 2012 where it won fourth place. At that point, the team realized they needed to take a bigger risk if they wanted to succeed as a studio. Sanchez noted how it is difficult for “an individual in the Philippines to develop a game that takes an entire team, no matter how small.” Finding people with the right talent and reliability required both effort and luck.

Considering that visual novels are not a popular genre in the country, Team Kwan would also have to target audiences outside the country, which means it must cater to a wider audience and face bigger competition. What made Sanchez want to “take the leap”?

It was the graphic adventure game 999 that would be the key for Sanchez to start working on Exogenesis.

What really blew my mind about 999 was its climactic twist. Sure, the narrative structure was great, and I enjoyed going through different paths in order to reach the true ending, but it’s in the game’s final few hours that everything comes together. I couldn’t help but be amazed.

Sanchez didn’t share exactly how 999 will affect Exogenesis, but he did mention that the team is “super excited to see how players will react to how the final endings unravel”. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m expecting one hell of a plot twist somewhere.