Hey Katie! Groundhog Day is a story that kind of takes place in a video game right? I was wondering if you could maybe tell me a little bit more about the actual video game in the 'real world'. Like when was it released? What about the company that made it? What's the art style like? What was its reception in the real world? How does it play?
!!!!! this is such an incredible question! I had so much fun answering but it got a touch long, so I've put it under a cut! thank you so much for this!
Cat House Productions is a small indie company, in the year 20XX. they’ve put out a few small games, but nothing that really caused much of a stir. as such, no one was expecting their new series, Chronicles of Fara, to make such a wave.
but make a wave it did.
in a move that, at the time, confused many, CHP released the title game, Fields of Fara, on the same date as its sequel, Fara Falls. due to the wildly different tones of the games, it managed to reach twice the audience in one fell swoop. the clamor was incredible. within the first year, it became the hottest selling game on the market.
both games are wildly different, though they share a graphical style that harkens back to “classics” such as Dragon Age Inquisition and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, with the occasional dip into the water color style of anime from the late 90s.
Fields of Fara takes the love for a fantasy plot, in which the player character must help save the Spirits of Fara, and combines it with an open world setting. the Spirits can be saved in any order, though certain aspects of the map remain unlockable until certain items are obtained. classic rpg elements are found a-plenty, including a class system that can be compared to D&D, and music that will make you nostalgic for a by-gone era.
Fara Falls has a more action centered story, dropping the player character into the middle of a dystopian kingdom, where the new recruit into the Royal Guard must try to, not only stay alive, but bring some semblance of peace back to the land of Fara. hordes of monsters allows a button-smasher to go wild, the dialogue is insightful, and the music is haunting in a way that the video game industry hasn’t seen since Lavender Town.
both games are rife with side quests, allowing the player to go off the beaten path, temporarily abandon the plot, and explore the land. they each also come equipped with a feature that is unique to their company - HEARTs.
the choices made in-game heavily affect the player character’s HEART - too many cruel choices, or too many Levels gained, and the player could inadvertently cause their character to become Heartsick, resulting in stat drops and different dialogue given when interacting with NPC characters.
this resulted in massive forums being created to try and chronicle all the variants that could happen as a result, which only helped to spur on its popularity. due to the different events that can take place, there are multiple endings in each game.
critique was raised over several areas that had been scrapped during the beta-stage, but still had partial files left in. despite a promise that the game areas would be used at later dates, through expansion packs and downloadable content, hackers and modders began trying to create these levels on their own with mixed success.