Road to London 1986 goes through Kickstarter

Written by Jack Allin — April 9, 2020 at 14:08

Members of the LGBTQIA+ community have historically been victims of innumerable hate crimes, but few in law enforcement ever concerned themselves much with their plight. Hopefully that trend is beginning to change, and now you too can take up the cause in indie developer Gareth Conroy-Edwards' upcoming London 1986, which is currently seeking funding through Kickstarter. 

The game tells a fictional story, but one in which the "setting and the premise [are] very, very real." It's July 1986, and "crimes are on the rise against an already marginalised community (before the acronym LGBTQIA+ was even thought of)." Players control the young detective assigned to investigate these cases, "much to the amusement of his teammates and the suspicion of the community he is trying to help." 

Blending real-world photographs and hand-drawn artwork, London 1986 (working title) is an otherwise fairly traditional point-and-click mystery adventure. Players are tasked with exploring crime scenes for clues, collecting evidence, and interviewing a "colourful cast" of characters through a series of branching dialogues, relying only on "your wits and your notes" to discern the truth and identify the perpetrator(s). 

Created with contributions from "performers, musicians, freelancers and artists from the community," London 1986 is going to need some additional help to reach completion. To that end, the developer has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise a modest £1,250 by June 8th. If all goes well, we could see the game released as early as next March, though no platforms have yet been announced.