Open Roads takes Gone Home's developer on a star-studded road trip

Open Roads
(Image credit: Fullbright)

No one at Fullbright knew what 2021 would look like when it brought its third game to Annapurna Interactive in 2018. Even so, it's hard to deny the allure of the open road is particularly keen now that long-distance travel is off the table. The studio's goal back then, though, was no less appealing to those of us isolated from family and friends: they wanted to make a game where you had some company. As in Gone Home and Tacoma, you're investigating places and piecing together a history – in this case, properties that reveal the hidden past of protagonist Tess's late grandmother – but this time you're not alone. In those games we looked into the past to get a glimpse into the lives of others. Now, through the process of doing that, we'll get to know the people inhabiting those spaces in the present.

The relationship between Tess (Kaitlyn Dever) and her mother Opal (Keri Russell) brings a new dynamic to a Fullbright game. "When you find something and your mom tells you something about it – even if she's not lying to you, it's still her interpretation, you're seeing it through her perspective, and so there's an interesting tension to that," creative director Steve Gaynor says. "What do I see with my own eyes? What is this other person telling me about it? And what does all that really mean if you don't take it strictly at face value?"

You could even say it brings a new dynamic to pop games, full stop. We've had plenty of games about fathers lately, but precious few about mothers and daughters. "As you say, we've seen a lot of dad games in the last five years," Gaynor laughs, though he's keen not to dismiss the "important" achievements of games such as The Walking Dead, The Last Of Us and God Of War. Gaynor's wife Rachel has worked closely with him on the story for Open Roads, he says. "Between the people on the team being interested in exploring and bringing their experience of a mother-daughter relationship, and just the general interest in doing something that we haven't seen very much of at this kind of scale, it was really exciting for us to be able to ask, 'What does that look like?' And we're fortunate that it's allowing us to work with two exciting, talented actors for the lead roles."

Infinite horizons

An ever-present NPC represented a new challenge for Fullbright. Having worked on BioShock Infinite for a year, Gaynor is familiar with the complexities of doing so with a large budget; for a team with the resources of Fullbright, it meant finding a new way. If Opal won't be another Elizabeth in terms of the complexity of modelling, animation and AI, Gaynor doesn't see that as a handicap, citing how Tacoma's abstractions allowed the player's imagination to fill gaps. "They can project what they imagine the reality of those scenes looking like onto the game in a way that is always going to be better than anything we could have put on the screen, and that makes the experience personal to the player."

Still, this time they needed a physical presence. Enter Noël Clark, responsible for those Tacoma animations, and classically trained in 2D animation, who has managed to span Open Roads' dimensional gap. "I want to ensure that the 2D characters are integrated into the 3D world in a way that you can tell they really exist there, and they're not just like, glued onto the screen," Gaynor says. As a result, the 2D models will take on natural light and shadow so they feel as if they fit into these high-fidelity 3D environments. "It's something that we've not really seen before," he adds. "Hopefully, it makes it feel both unique in concept but natural in practice."

Given the studio's previous form, Gaynor's optimism seems well-placed; indeed, in Annapurna it seemingly has the perfect partner for the journey ahead. "I have confidence that whatever the outcome is, it's going to be based on Annapurna supporting the quality of the release. At the end of the day, I don't think any of us want to cast these actors and then not have what we make live up to having them involved."

This feature first appeared in Edge Magazine. For more excellent features, like the one you've just read, don't forget to subscribe to the print or digital edition at Magazines Direct. 

CATEGORIES
Edge Staff

Edge magazine was launched in 1993 with a mission to dig deep into the inner workings of the international videogame industry, quickly building a reputation for next-level analysis, features, interviews and reviews that holds fast nearly 30 years on. 

Read more
Lost Records: Bloom and Rage
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is bringing Don't Nod back to its Life is Strange roots, and nothing could excite me more
South of Midnight Big Preview hero image showing Hazel looking out across a vast landscape with the Benji tree drawing central focus
After playing 2 hours of South of Midnight, I'm convinced that it has the sort of off-kilter energy that can define Xbox's 2025
Mio and Zoe encounter a Sandfish in a ruined sandy world in Split Fiction
Split Fiction ups the ante on It Takes Two's wacky co-op action, while showing why human creativity still matters
The clip selection screen in Immortality, highlighting a clip of Marrisa Marcel with the director of Ambrosio
"Part of the genesis of Immortality was the three years I spent making a Legacy Of Kain game that got cancelled": Sam Barlow on the making of his "interactive movie"
Big In 2025 montage image showing Sam Porter Bridges with Lou, and various hiking delivery situations in new environments like sandy dunes
Electric guitar battles are cool, but Death Stranding 2's real secret weapon? The fear of slipping down a sandy dune
games like Resident Evil - Bioshock
BioShock Infinite “may not have been the thing I wanted, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it wasn’t the thing the audience wanted”: Ken Levine guides us through his entire gameography
Latest in Adventure
Pokemon Legends: Z-A screenshot
Pokemon Legends: Z-A will allegedly introduce 27 new Mega Evolutions, leakers claim, and we can only hope Flygon gets its chance this time
Minecraft Vibrant Visuals
16 years after Minecraft first released it's getting a modern visual upgrade with a retro lighting trick that Mojang hasn't seen "in any other game"
Minecraft movie image of Jack Black as steve
Don't expect Minecraft to go free-to-play anytime soon, as Mojang says "It doesn't really work with the way we built it"
Putting cigarettes in fish mouths in Thank Goodness You're Here
Thank Goodness You're Here's developer says it was trying to design a game normally before realizing "we're s**t at video game design"
Pokemon TCG Pocket Shiny Cards
How to get Shiny Pokemon in Pokemon TCG Pocket
Pokemon Legends: Z-A screenshot
Pokemon Legends: Z-A's director appears to be a Xenoblade Chronicles fan, and I'm now feeling very validated about a tiny detail I spotted in the upcoming RPG's gameplay trailer
Latest in Features
Naoe kills a target with a black and white filter over the camera highlighting the red of blood spray in Assassin's Creed Shadows, with an On The Radar orange frame
Assassin's Creed Shadows "has a little bit of Tarantino flavor", but its real secret ingredient is intrigue: "It's almost like you're watching an episode of Shogun"
Helldivers 2 Borderline Justice Warbond helldiver using hoverpack to shoot down with hunting rifle
Talking points from the Game Developers Conference 2025 and how they could impact the future of gaming
Flexispot E7 Plus with plant, monitor, soundbar, and controller on top next to white wall lighting.
Gaming desks vs regular desks: which surface should you buy?
Google Pixel 9a smartphones on a beige background
One Google Pixel 9a feature could make it a better gaming phone than most budget mainstream models
Yasuke and Naoe ready to fight on the Assassin's Creed Shadows On The Radar thumbnail
On The Radar: Assassin's Creed Shadows coverage hub
Captain Planet #1
Captain Planet is back after 33 years with a "sexy" makeover and a message that's as important as ever: "Reality has gotten a lot less subtle"