Solo developer Robert Stephenson has a great deal of experience working behind the scenes on video games, having worked for Sega Europe as a QA lead on such titles as Valkyria Chronicles 4, Yakuza Kiwami 1, and Shining Resonance Refrain. Now Stephenson is branching out on his own, trying his hand at creating his own games as an indie developer.
Stephenson's first effort is Poltergirl, a charming stealth take on an Undertale-like experience, with the RPG mechanics stripped out and replaced with Metal Gear-style stealth mechanics. Poltergirl is the story of two siblings, one of whom happens to be a ghost. Players control both characters on one controller, similar to the way that Two Brothers controls. Each character has different abilities, so it is up to the player to combine the brother's more tactile approach with the sister's ghost powers to progress the game.
Along the way, the siblings meet a variety of friendly-ish monsters, and it is up to the player whether they want to befriend the monsters (recommended) or murder them (feels bad, and the sister doesn't like it). The whole game has a very wholesome family vibe to it, without being overly cute or smarmy. I played the demo over the weekend, and you can check out the first forty minutes or so of that here:
Stephenson is planning a Kickstarter campaign in the months ahead to help fund the rest of the game; we'll have details on that campaign as they become available. In the meantime, the demo for Poltergirl is now available on Steam for anyone that wants to check it out.
