



Renato Araujo Lima, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Brazil, NYMS



Nyms is a profound self-exploring puzzle game that tells a fictional story of Fernando Pessoa trying to find his true identity. Fernando Pessoa is a worldwide known Portuguese poet mostly respected for the creation of multiple heteronyms. So much detailed personalities created by one person could lead to unawareness of his own identity.







It begins with a simple question "Who I am?". The main character, Ricardo Reis (one of Fernando Pessoa's heteronyms), face philosophical questions about his existence and, with the help of his master Alvaro de Campos (another heteronym), start to search in his past experiences answers to who he really is.



As a terrain-exploring game the main objective of the game is to explore the space, finding objects and resolving the story quests. However, the game happens inside the poet's mind which leads to a plane-shifting scenario within his memories and works. Soon the characters start to discover that they are one only individual and that they are capable of change the world's perception, the interaction with the space and with the objects that are in the inventory simply switching the heteronym who is on control.



The player will follow a subjective storyline based on each hint found or puzzle solved in the scenario. The communication with non-playable characters will also be driven by the current heteronym used by the player to make the conversation.



There are times when two or more personalities will dispute each other. This will make a major decision in the end of the story.



It's also very important the presence of an educative purpose in the game exposing the beauty and hard worship of the Fernando Pessoa's work. The game must present puzzles with an easy resolve and others that are only unlocked when the player is understanding his work. Those complex puzzles lead to a more beautiful approach of who Fernando Pessoa really is and rewarding the player with side quests inside other works of the poet.

