We Are The Caretakers (PC) - Preview

We Are The Caretakers is a game precisely designed to annoy every one of those people I hate on the internet, the people who say, “Games shouldn’t have politics.” As if stating that humans are horrible to this planet and the other creatures on it is a heinous act. Those same people think that somehow, games shouldn’t touch on such issues. More games should confront this in more styles, as I can only think (off the top of my head) of this and Shadow of the Colossus ever saying that killing beautiful lovely creatures is a bad thing.

I’ve been playing We Are The Caretakers on and off again for quite a few weeks now (I’ve been busy) since it released into early access on Steam. It is a strange little mix of story and turn-based tactics in a rather simple way, all with the “political” stance of hunting for “sport” is bad. I think it is fair to say, those who moan about any political stance being in a game, i.e those who play first-person shooters exclusively, aren’t the target for We Are The Caretakers. It lacks any haste in anything it does, nor is it about the action as they would prefer. Nonetheless, it is a game that is very interesting.

I don’t entirely understand the idea of putting a story-driven game into Early Access, as you’re spoiling the game for yourself. Nevertheless, the story of We Are The Caretakers wears itself as a jacket: We can all see it from a mile away and understand that it is highlighting the issues we see of poaching in Africa. Most notably it references/calls back to Rhinos and Elephants that are poached for their horns and tusks. However, it is done through very alien and weird creature metaphors that are as thinly veiled as any other video game’s metaphors.

That said, the writing isn’t always the best, with “[…] these creatures are quite literally why we exist.” A line that lands like the word “exposition” was thrown down a flight of stairs in a wheelchair. It is getting us through a situation but never feels like something natural is happening, especially with the drama of one of your team members undermining you out of the gate. It feels quite melodramatic as it goes without giving us time to understand any of this; like going from 0 to 100 for a relationship while we’ve only been around for that 99 to 100. You can’t just give me a distrustful and undermining character, tell me they’ve been doing this for a while, then get rid of them within the first 15-minutes. I’m not going to care.

That said, the gameplay is as barebones as you get. This isn’t entirely a critique against it, but there isn’t much to it; I’d liken it to South Park: The Stick of Truth, lacking much skill or tactics overall. The same works with Pokémon, use your biggest and more impactful attack until you can finish off the enemy, and then you need to decide what you do with them. This is the bit where it gets a little more interesting. As you play as odd sci-fi cops of the alien savannah, you have the option to detain, bribe, interrogate, or send enemies to a judge for sentencing. Only some of these things can be done in the field.

This, rather tacked on on bit, works as something far more interesting than the typical turn-based combat. It plays into the morality of the entire system, either making you a bent cop taking bribes for information and release, or an honest space cop taking on the poachers. The trouble with this idea is common in morality systems, you can find yourself trying to be a paragon but little things get in the way. For instance, I have a bloke I’ve arrested sitting my cells. I caught him with a horn, and I have three options. Two of which decrease my reputation, one just leaves him where he is.

I’m all for leaving him where he is, but what is really stopping me from leaving him there? Sure he’s taking up space, but I don’t always have to arrest someone, I can deal with poachers in other ways. If morality is going to play into it, why doesn’t the length of time someone spends in my cells count towards that? That idea would force you into making difficult decisions such as taking a hit to your reputation, possibly a smaller one, for releasing someone who shouldn’t have been detained in the first place. If each system is a loop, all loops in a game are interconnected and this is one of them. It is a slightly broken circle allowing for it to fall off.

Ultimately, We Are The Caretakers isn’t always about the gameplay, instead deciding to focus on the story and the subject matter. Despite minor gripes that I have with the writing, and moments of concern that the gameplay lacks a spark, I do appreciate We Are The Caretakers. It is a little rough and straightforward at times, though its charm comes from what it is trying to be and the message it is trying to get across. I just wish the performance was markedly better, as with the most recent patch I’ve found Unity crashing on multiple systems.

A PC review copy of We Are The Caretakers was provided by Heart Shaped Games LLC for this preview.