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Dissension to be raised on PC

If you haven't been able to get enough of fictional medieval conspiracies since Game of Thrones ended, then the upcoming pixel art spy adventure Dissension should provide all the corruption, backstabbing, double-dealing, and unlikely partnerships you could ask for.

Peace has reigned in the Kingdom of Tyrnia for half a century, but now "the once victorious kingdom finds itself on the brink of a civil war." Having recently ascended to the throne, the new king is suspicious of his younger brother, Prince Bryden, and so consigns him to watch over Kastra, the "most remote and decadent city in the kingdom." Once the realm's capital but long since forsaken by the Crown, the city is now "a pale shadow of her former self" and has "fallen into the hands of local criminals who call themselves the Thieves Underground." Now the "corrupt city guards and the mysterious Church of Anar-Nehit, pilgrims from the far-southern deserts, control nearly every aspect" of city life. Against this backdrop, the "patient and vile Ontorian Empire ... has prepared an even more cunning plan to seize neighbouring lands." 

This is where you come in. You are Eiren, one of the "Imperial spies sent to Tyrnia." Disguising yourself as "a relative of a local impoverished nobleman," it is your job to covertly "become part of a dastardly conspiracy to take over the unaware kingdom." As you begin your undercover mission to investigate "a daring crime that has shaken an already fragile balance in Kastra," you will need to work with Prince Bryden to restore order even as you "protect [your] true identity and motives at all costs."

Dissension may look like a traditional point-and-click with its chunky pixel art presentation and third-person perspective, and indeed you will be called upon to thoroughly explore the "gloomy medieval city steeped in corruption," completing simple inventory-based puzzles and "dedicated simulative mini-games" along the way. However, the side-scrolling adventure uses the keyboard to navigate and mouse to interact, and the story-driven experience promises to be "heavily focused on character development." Not only must you "talk your unlikely allies into trusting you," you will also need to wrestle with your own conflicted conscience about your mission while "coming to terms with [your] own tragic past." Fortunately, providing companionship is your trusty horse Pumpkin, who has "her own outlook on the situation."

The full version of Dissension isn't due to be launched on Steam for Windows PC until the second half of 2022, but in the meantime a demo is available on itch.io, providing about thirty minutes of gameplay in an early development state. The developers are also planning a longer, more fully featured demo that we could begin playing as early as October. 

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