Returning to your apartment as your first objective — A transition to core gameplay

[gray dock]

Giving the player an initial objective to aim toward which provides a platform to introduce the motives behind various gameplay features/player decisions like theft.

A transition from YOU; the unremarkable person with no criminal history, and YOU; the desperate person trying to get out who is willing to do less than legal things. E.g. Going home to get your documents and possessions, checking your "under the mattress, rainy day" savings hiding spot and realizing you're broke.

Perhaps the apartment is a mess, maybe missing its roof. A visualization of your life in disarray.

[stone maple]

yeesss

👏

[silver ivy]

This also has the benefit of walking players through the mechanics and game loop in a more clear, concise manner. And in future playthroughs, the apartment quest could be skipped outright to jump right into the gameplay itself. This is a good idea Tallboys!

[gray dock]

For sure. I knew that breaking into buildings and hawking stuff off was part of the gameplay from trailers and dev videos but once I was plonked down on the docks and broke out of the old cafe seating area I was wandering around the streets waiting for some prompt.

It didn't seem like my character would immediately do that in that moment. They'd just professed their innocence, I used the cry option with the friend 😭