CRESCENT COUNTY
A broomstick bildungsroman
Developer/ publisher Electric Saint
Format PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series
Origin UK
Release TBA
Pastoral horizons clash with sharp lighting effects, shifting camera angles and prodding banter to amp up the intensity of a race
Have you ever wrestled with the concept of a quarter-life crisis? If so, you have something in common with Anna Hollinrake. After honing her skills as an art director in the triple-A frying pan, the former Fall Guys art lead is plunging into the world of independent development with Crescent County, a witch-tech life sim that pulls on her experience of bouncing around the UK for work. “I remember reading something about how the first indie game you make is always way too personal,” she jokes.
Crescent County stars Lu, a flirty freelancer who arrives on the moon-shaped cay in need of a found family. A past worth running away from is hinted at as she makes deliveries on the back of a second-hand motorised broomstick while shacked up at her cousin’s dingy flat. “What I really wanted to capture within Lu is something that’s pretty universal,” Hollinrake says. “That sense of terror when you emerge out of this relatively straightforward path and are suddenly faced with this yawning abyss of your mid-20s. You don’t really know who you’re supposed to be, and suddenly you need to make decisions.”