Masq

Overview

Masq is an interactive drama; It was released as a downloadable Flash game. The game is presented in comic book style black and white graphics and is presented as a series of choices. Each choice spawn a different set of choices further on. It is a similar to Mass Effect or Alpha Protocol, but with many more different paths the story can take. For example when you meet Nikki you might end up just chatting for a bit, you might end up in bed, you might end up arrested or you might end up finding out about who she is and what her motivation for sleeping with you is. Unlike most games with choices, the story can turn out completely different depending on your choices. People that play a huge part in some playthroughs may not even be in another play through.

Some people have compared it to Façade, however unlike that game, Masq is not based on any sort of natural language processing, but goes for the more traditional option tree.

Reception

Despite some success among critics and being named the 75th best PC game of all time by PCGAMER in 2007 it never really took off. AlterAction think it is likely that the simplistic graphics and lack of sound is part of the reason as well as people not being used to a drama genre in video game form. AlterAction had high hopes that Masq would be the start of a new genre in video games. A video game equivalent to the drama genre in books and movies. However almost a decade later and despite the emergence of games for the casual market there is no mainstream interactive drama genre in video gaming.