Bobby Throne Saves The World is the latest creation from Snowrunner, the irreverent minds behind Soda Drinker Pro. It’s a game unlike any other I’ve seen at PAX, or anywhere really. Part VR experience, part improv comedy exercise, part Twitch experiment, Bobby Throne Saves The World puts players in the pulpit of a cult leader made in the mold of a suave southern preacher. It’s clearly a character-driven exercise, down to the special message from Bobby himself in the press release:
Games are about learning, you learn muscle memory, history, communication, stories, and so much more. If games are about learning then I’m here to teach. So what better place to share my ministry with than at the wonderful PAX East show where everyone is learning. I look forward to introducing myself to all these new minds and see them transform right before my eyes… forever.
And introduce himself he did. As I stood and watched a brief Bobby Throne Saves the World demo at PAX East I noticed it didn’t take much for a small crowd to form. Many seemed unaware that the video game avatar onscreen was being controlled Wizard of Oz style by a man literally behind a curtain. The real marvel came in how readily some onlookers seemed to be to believe they were interacting with a sophisticated algorithm. Faith, it seems, is in full supply at PAX.
The gameplay itself is centered around players assuming the role of Bobby, and delivering his sermons as best they can. Users will be scored on things like body language and cadence, and the audience can be made up of other players who simply want to watch. As the Twitch integration for the developing project gets refined it’s easy to imagine that soon there will be actual cults of personality forming on Twitch. Well, moreso than there already are.