Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb
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| Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb | |
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| Developer(s) | The Dreamers Guild |
| Publisher(s) | New World Computing Wyrmkeep Entertainment (new version) |
| Engine | SAGA, ScummVM |
| Release date(s) | 1994, 2004 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | Amiga, Mac OS, Mac OS X, DOS, Linux, Windows, ScummVM-platforms |
| Input | Keyboard, Mouse |
Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb (ITE) is a computer game, developed by The Dreamers Guild and published by New World Computing.
The adventure featured a world full of talking, humanoid animals, amongst them a fox on his quest to find a stolen orb, a relic of the mythical humans.
The game was originally released for the DOS platform and later ported to the Macintosh. The German version Erben der Erde: Die große Suche was first released as a port to the Amiga, followed by the DOS version. Although it wasn't a big commercial success, it gained some popularity with the furry fandom for featuring anthropomorphic animals. The former Dreamers Guild co-founder Joe Pearce started a new company Wyrmkeep Entertainment to re-release Inherit the Earth again after 2000 for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. He also provided the ScummVM developers with the source code of the SAGA engine, which made ports to even more platforms possible.
The official sequel to the video game has come in the form of a webcomic, also called Inherit the Earth, which first appeared in 2005 [1].
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[edit] Story
In a far future, mankind is extinct and Earth is populated by several tribes of speaking, human-like animals, living in a medieval world.
The game begins with the protagonist, Rif of the Fox Tribe, being falsely accused of having stolen the Orb of Storms (a technological relic of humankind which is able to predict and control the weather). In order to prove his innocence and free his girlfriend Rhene, who is being held hostage by the Boar King, Rif is determined to find the real thief of the Orb.
[edit] Whither Humanity?
One of this game's major themes, although it mostly hid in the background, was the greater mystery of what happened to all the humans. The game's introduction and manual inform us that the humans reformed the Morphs out of their constituent animals, and then mysteriously disappeared.
Most of the human relics are in the third area of the game (although the exterior structure of the dog castle implies it was once human but oddly wrecked). In the third area, the North Island, one spends a good deal of time wandering through ancient human ruins of such places as hydroelecric dams, airports, and solar observatories. Rif, the protagonist, like most other characters, have lost nearly all information about this. Even the Rats, the most educated tribe, only know of such things through their documents and exploration of human sites.
The game sets a serious mood but also leavens it with humor for these parts. There are tantalizing clues, like the flashing "EVACUATE" sign in the lobby of the building near the airport, and the fact that much of the equipment in the solar observatory and dam was left on. This implies that sudden disaster overtook the humans, but this is not necessarily so.
Humor comes from the reaction of Rif and his companions to things we take for granted. The deductive reasoning about how a battery works ("I bet these little cylinders have the power to make things glow") makes us laugh because we know better.
The question of where the humans went to is never fully resolved during the game; however, David 'Talin' Joiner, one of the key developers of the game, revealed in an interview that humanity was eradicated by an airborne biological weapon.
In an interview Lisa Jennings, one of the original artists and animators, revealed that the game was originally intended to be part of a trilogy, but due to conflicts with the developer and publisher, this never happened. This is why the game ends on a "To be continued" like note.
[edit] Criticisms
Players have commented that some sections of the game feel contrieved, particually the opening scene which establishes all major elements of the story within a few minutes with no player decisions. This, combined with the lack of development of the Rhene character, has been attributed to the difficulties associated with combineing a serious and detailed plot with anthropomorphic animals - a theme usually associated with childrens' entertainment. The abrubt opening suggests part of the script may have been removed.
Lisa Jennings, concept artist and animator for the game, confirmed this: "Our biggest conflict was simple: the developers wanted something that was rather adult in nature. The publishers saw animals and equated it with children, and so forced us at every turn to cater to the 8-12 range, up to and including removing any death scenes to keep a Childrens Rating."
[edit] Webcomic Sequel
The story of the video game is continued in the official webcomic, Inherit the Earth, which takes place ten months after the events of the game. The webcomic is drawn by Allison Hershey, the game's original art designer, and co-written by Joe Pearce, the owner of Wyrmkeep Entertainment [2].
