Disney announced a surprise collaboration at D23 Expo with Bithell Games to produce a new game called Tron: Identity. The game is a visual novel that could make the unique Tron universe into a gripping game, but it has to survive a few pitfalls to get there. There are a few lessons it could draw from a recent visual novel game Digimon Survive, which hit some important notes to be a good representative of the genre while missing others. Tron: Identity is scheduled for a 2023 release, and although not a lot is known gameplay-wise, the new storyline has definite promise, which should bode well for a visual novel game.
Tron: Identity is a story-driven adventure game created by Mike Bithell, who leads Bithell Games. The visual novel style should suit the franchise extremely well since it has a history of comic books and physical visual novels. The new, original storyline created for the game brings the player to a setting after the Tron movies. 20 years after Kevin Flynn was released from the server, another Grid is experiencing unprecedented crime. In the story, the player enters the Grid as a crime-solving program Query and sets to solve the mystery.
Story and Characters in Tron: Identity
It seems clear from the get-go that Bithell Games is creating a deep story that corresponds to the larger Tron ecosystem and respects its predecessors. As with Digimon Survive, the storyline needs to be at the center of the experience. While a good narrative is key, Tron: Identity should avoid non-interactive sequences that are too long. As a style visual novel can offer exciting transitions and fillers, which makes it possible to create novel progress in other forms than just a passive movie-like experience.
The characters need to have depth, and that is where Disney is an important partner for Bithell Games. While movie characters aren't going to be in Tron: Identity, there's a lot of room to develop fascinating personalities. Similarly to Digimon Survive, the player needs to not only feel part of the story but experience the non-player characters' presence. A multifaceted, complex, and diverse set of characters allows players to relate to the narrative - there are no entirely clean, polished people in real-life either.
This could also allow great interactive options that not only add player agency, but replay value, too. Giving characters myriad separate narratives can create a more broad universe without touching the size of the tangible world. However, Tron: Identity should try and avoid creating flat rapport systems, like Digimon Survive's obvious Karma system, that turn into click-through experiences. Speaking of the tangible world - it should be made into a major asset to Tron: Identity. Giving the game more open-world possibilities than Digimon Survive would make it more engaging for the player. While visual novel adventure isn't about having an open world, and constricting the player is essential, making it too linear can dissuade player interaction.
Tron: Identity's Difficulty and Possible Battle System
It is unclear at this point if the game will have any type of fighting or battle system. As it is an adventure game and not an RPG like Digimon Survive, there's a high likelihood that it might not. However, it is important to add that Digimon Survive is a visual novel game to a large degree, and it contains one of these systems. If Bithell Games is going to employ a battle system, it needs to be built ground-up to be meaningful and not hold the game down. Spending time in a subpar battle system for the sake of advancing can be depressing, especially when there's an amazing world to explore and an interesting story waiting to be uncovered.
Lastly, the length of the game should be appropriate, and provide enough difficulty that players are engaged in both the content and the game mechanics. Normal difficulty should provide ample challenge for a regular gamer, which isn't the case in Digimon Survive. However, Digimon Survive provides a good 40 hours of gameplay, and many additional hours with replays, which should be a good target for Tron: Identity. Gamers want to finish their game and be proud of their achievement. The challenge is to make the game long enough for players to be happy with the accomplishment, but not too long to make it a chore. Fortunately, Bithell Games seems to have all the right tools to make it happen.
Tron: Identity releases in 2023 on PC and consoles.