Demo for Cantaloupe Chronicle served up on Steam

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Full version of low-poly, small-town journalism adventure due out later this year

Working for the press isn't as easy as it looks. Even gaming journalism requires lots of research, diligence and hard work to make sure facts are correct and articles aren't filled with splling mistakkes. But don't take my word for it: Everyone now has the opportunity to try their hand at newspaper reporting in the demo for Tim Rachor's laid-back mystery adventure, Cantaloupe Chronicle.

Fanny is a young woman visiting the "cozy roadside town" of Cantaloupe to become an intern for her Aunt Jill at the local newspaper. Circulation is decidedly limited, given the town's entire population is twelve, but it's a great low-stress, low-stakes environment to learn the ropes, as evidenced by Fanny's first assignment to cover the annual fishing competition. As the player, it's your task to explore the area, talk to the "quirky" townsfolk, take photos and uncover information you can use to structure and "craft compelling articles" back at the office for a variety of small stories. Along the way you'll want to keep an eye out for "clues related to the big mystery" – the death of a man under suspicious circumstances many years earlier whose fate will become your "final, front page article" when your two-week internship is over. 

Cantaloupe Chronicle features a distinctive low-poly aesthetic with simple two-button point-and-click mechanics. There are a number of places to go and people to meet in and around town, the farthest of them reached by hopping into your trusty pickup and choosing your desired destination. The atmosphere is intentionally relaxing with no deadline pressure, allowing you to explore at your leisure. But this is no vacation, so you'll need to uncover new topics to talk to people about, accessed from your journal on the right-hand side of the screen, along with a list of active stories you're pursuing and your camera and other inventory picked up in your travels. There will be traditional tasks to complete and puzzles to solve in order to progress, and a "custom text editor" back at the Chronicle that will help you write articles from available text blocks you've unlocked through your research. 

The playable demo for Cantaloupe Chronicle is available now on Steam for Windows PC. If you think you have what it takes to become a member of the fourth estate, the full game is expected to be released sometime later this year.