Set in the fictional country of Novistan, players take the role of a ‘Headliner’, a chief editor of the country’s largest news publication, NoviNews. As a Headliner, the player must decide which stories to run while balancing the local political climate with social sentiment and personal interactions. After making executive decisions behind the desk, Headliner: NoviNews lets the player observe the impact and consequences of the stories published in NoviNews. With an incredible possibilities of randomised events and articles to report on, players will experience numerous outcomes and unique endings that encourage them to play the game time and time again.
“Headliner: NoviNews grabbed me from the moment I first saw the game,” said Shintaro Kanaoya, Founder of Chorus Worldwide. “We live in a time where we’re forced to question everything we read in the news. A game about the impact of news on the world felt timely and important. With Papers, Please and Not Tonight showing that there are compelling ways to address politics in games, Headliner: NoviNews joins them to deal with the most dangerous threat of all – fake news.”
“I’ve always been interested in how media shapes people’s perceptions, which in turn shapes reality. What stories we deem newsworthy, and how we report on those stories, fundamentally changes our entire society. Headliner: NoviNews explores the trials and tribulations of trying to remain unbiased in an inherently biased world”, said Unbound Creations founder and director Jakub Kasztalski.
Headliner: NoviNews is an official nominee for IndieCade 2019, and recently won the “Games for Good” silver award at Serious Play Conference 2019 and ‘4Gamer’s Indie Award’ at Tokyo Game Show 2019. It also won "Best Overall Game" at Intel Buzz Seattle, 2018, was a finalist for Best Action & Adventure Game at the 2018 TIGA Awards, and was part of the Official Selection at PAX West 2018’s Indie Megabooth, as well as at Seattle Indies Expo 2018.A stack of news article sits on your desk, but which ones will you send to print?! Your reporting team is hacking away in the background as corporate music plays through the loudspeaker. It’s time to make decisions. Will you endorse nationalised healthcare, even though your love interest is worried about increased waiting times? Will you demonise the new synthetic alcoholic drink, even though your boss stressed the brand are important investors in the paper? Will you support the current government as tensions grow between neighbouring countries?
Headliner: NoviNews features:• Cast of believable characters with their own struggles
• Numerous outcomes and unique endings
• Randomized events and articles enhance replay value
