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First details uncovered for Booklice: Prologue

Normally lice isn't something you want to find, but it is when it comes in the form of Booklice: Prologue, the upcoming debut of a new mystery trilogy from Octavi Navarro.

The game is set in the aftermath of two centuries of war between "the corrupt Government and a rebel faction known as the Excluded." Against this backdrop, an organization known as The Order is populated by "agents armed with swords" and magic medallions able to detect booklice, a "parasite sometimes found on very old and mouldy books." Commonly known as Librarians, their mission is to "recover and seize all the knowledge lost in the war with any means necessary, even violence." But the fragile truce between the two opposing factions is "about to be broken when an agent of The Order, Veronese, is involved in a killing rampage of Excluded rebels, for unknown reasons." Accompanied by her loyal cat Sphynx, players assume control of a Librarian named Liz, whose pursuit of her rogue fellow agent will put her "loyalty to the Government to the test."

 

The lovely pixel art in Booklice will come as no surprise to fans of Navarro's previous work on titles like Thimbleweed Park and Photographs, along with as his freeware-turned-updated-Special-Edition solo projects The Librarian (same protagonist but entirely different story than Booklice) and Midnight Scenes. This game marks the Spanish developer's first full-scale commercial adventure, and will take players to "about a dozen locations" with several scenes each, including multiple murder scenes and "the capital city of the realm, where we'll meet Lady Arachne: the Queen's advisor and [Liz's] boss in The Order." Along the way you'll encounter a number of other "interesting characters that will assist you in your quest," and though there will be puzzles to solve as well, the focus here will be on a "thrilling story of murder and ancient books" rather than challenging gameplay.

Booklice: Prologue will be launched on Steam for Windows and Mac early next year, representing just the first installment in a planned trilogy of games. It won't be a particularly long introduction, projected to take about three hours to complete, but the story will stand on its own, complete with a proper ending, though with room for a pair of sequels to follow. 

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