It’s not often that we hear about a game that’s “emotion-driven”. I don’t even think most gamers know what that means since it’s used so sparingly to describe interaction in most adventure and role-playing games. However, for the Polish indie outfit known as The Rat Project, the description of emotion-driven gameplay is actually a cornerstone feature for how characters evolve and engage in combat in their crowdfunded, deckbuilding, adventure-RPG called Magin: The Rat Project Stories.

The game follows to outcast mages, Tolen and Elester, one a young boy and the other a seasoned fighter. Their fates are intertwined in a world where mages are either viewed as villains or worthy of experiments.

Players will be able to control both characters as they have a collision course with one another over the course of the game, revealing a grander story arc and interactions that fuel the growth and possibilities of their combat prowess.

As mentioned at the top of the article, the emotion-driven gameplay comes into play with the choices you make throughout the game.

The choices you stick with during the adventure segments will affect not only how the story unfolds but also how the characters behave during combat, since the mage’s abilities are tied to how they feel.

You’re probably starting to see the bigger picture now of how your decision making isn’t just about cosmetic changes to the narrative, it will also affect your in-game combat abilities, too. Said abilities are tied to cards you’ll be able to collect throughout your journey and use during combat in traditional deckbuilding fashion.

I’m having a hard time thinking of an adequate comparison to make here, since there aren’t too many games that tie combat to non-combat mechanics. Usually adventure titles or RPGs separate what happens in the overworld from what occurs within the in-game battle system (other than combat specific micromanagement, obviously).

The premise for Magin is pretty cool, and if you think this is something you might be interested in, there’s a free demo you can download from over on the Steam page.

If you feel like this is the sort of game that you would like to see brought to life, you can also financially back the project over on the Kickstarter page.