Factsheet

Developer:
Santa Ragione
Based in Milan, Italy

Release date:
20th September (5th October on consoles)

Platforms:
WIN / MAC / LINUX
STEAM
PS4
Xbox One

Website:
wheelsofaurelia.com

Regular Price:

$9.99

Description

A narrative road trip game set in the roaring Italian 70s, it tells the story of Lella, a restless woman driving on the roads of the western coast of Italy, the famous “Via Aurelia”. This is an interactive fiction in the shape of an isometric driving game and with a focus on replayability: every playthrough lasts about fifteen minutes and there are sixteen different endings to discover. The 1970s in Italy were a time of terrorism, kidnappings, and political turmoil. Based on your choices and the places you'll decide to visit you may end up in car chases, illegal street races, or in tense debates with a catholic priest, and more from a cast of characters that you have never met before in a video game. Based on your choices – and the places you'll decide to visit – you may end up in car chases, illegal street races, or in tense debates that will make you wonder who your travel companions really are.

History

Wheels of Aurelia is one of six games that were incubated to premiere at Fantastic Arcade 2015 by Austin indie game collective Juegos Rancheros. For those that could not attend, we collaborated with the amazing staff at Fantastic Arcade and Humble Bundle to let players access the beta during the week of the festival. The complete version of Wheels of Aurelia is coming to Steam on September 20th and on consoles on October the 5th.

Features

  • Branching roads in unseen sceneries of the Italian coast
  • A cast of very unusual characters to travel with
  • Branching storylines based on dialogue decisions and driving performance
  • Sixteen different endings to discover through multiple playthroughs

Videos

Launch Trailer YouTube

Gameplay Trailer YouTube

Greenlight Trailer YouTube


Images

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logo
logo

Awards & Recognition

  • " Independet Game Festival " Nuovo Award Honorable Mention 2017
  • " IndieCade Festival " Official Nominee 2016
  • " AMaze Awards " Most Amazing Game - Grand Prize Finalist 2016
  • " Emotional Games Awards " Best Emotional Indie Game Nominee 2016
  • " Fantastic Arcade " Spotlight Premiere 2015
  • " Drago d'Oro " Best Italian Game - Best Art Direction Nominee 2016
  • " BIG Festival " Best Narrative Game Nominee 2016


  • Selected Articles

    • "A girls' road trip, may be my favorite game of 2015"
      - Leigh Alexander, Boing Boing
    • "The year's smartest driving sim"
      - David K Gibson, BBC
    • "A strangely perfect modelling of the real world."
      - Christian Donlan, Eurogamer
    • "I’ve longed for a game like this"
      - Graham Smith, Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    • "Interactive fiction meets arcade racer: Designing Wheels of Aurelia [INTERVIEW]"
      - Alex Wawro, Gamasutra
    • "A snapshot of italy in the wake of its 1970s social revolution"
      - Jess Joho, Kill Screen
    • "It's the conversations I've had that make Wheels of Aurelia my Game of the Year [TOP TEN 2015]"
      - Meg Jayanth, Giant Bomb
    • "It took me way too long to get to Wheels of Aurelia, but I’m so glad that I did [TOP TEN 2015]"
      - Austin Walker, Giant Bomb
    • "Too ambitious to be held back by one genre"
      - Kieffer Wilson, (The) Absolute
    • "Crazy Taxi if you sucked all of the wacky 90’s goofiness out of it and replaced it with stoic badassery"
      - Brian Hamby, IndieRuckus

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    SOUNDTRACK
    Full game soundtrack included, including four songs written, composed, and performed for the game in the style of Italian 70s music. santaragione.bandcamp.com.

    GREENLIGHT PAGE
    The game was greenlit on Steam by the community in just 7 days! steamcommunity.com.


    About Santa Ragione

    Boilerplate
    Santa Ragione is an Italian game design studio founded by Pietro Righi Riva and Nicolò Tedeschi in 2010, creators of FOTONICA, MirrorMoon EP, Wheels of Aurelia, and Saturnalia. Santa Ragione’s games focus on achieving a visceral response from the player, whether through the desolate landscapes of MirrorMoon EP, the uncompromising, vertigo-inducing speeds of FOTONICA, or the controversial politics in Wheels of Aurelia. The studio has a unique, experimental approach to accessibility that encourages exploration and personal interpretation, to achieve depth. Santa Ragione's ambitions are to influence game design through new genres and to continue the tradition of Italian design.

    More information
    More information on Santa Ragione, our logo & relevant media are available here.


    Wheels of Aurelia Credits

    Nicolò Tedeschi and Pietro Righi Riva
    Original Concept

    Pietro Righi Riva
    Director, Producer, Programmer

    Nicolò Tedeschi
    Art Director

    We Are Müesli, Claudia Molinari, Matteo Pozzi
    Story and Dialogue

    Anna Kipnis
    Dialogue System Design and Implementation

    Chris Remo
    Dialogue Editing

    Flaminia Grimaldi
    Environment Art

    Paolo Tajé
    Release Manager

    Ernest Nemirovskiy
    Extra 3D Art

    Luca Francesco Rossi
    Extra 2D Art

    Patrick Leger
    Character Portraits

    Matteo Berton
    Wheels of Aurelia Logo and Posters

    Paolo Tajé, Il Sumero, Mario Porpora
    Testers

    Gipsy Studio, Gianluca Bianco, Cristiano Tommasini, Giordano Sartoretti
    "Wheels of Aurelia" Opening Theme

    Stefano Righi Riva, Marco Adamoli, Nicolò Sonato
    Opening Theme Lyrics

    Guido Zoppi
    Extra Lyrics

    Nicolò Sala
    Music on the radio by

    Michael Manning
    Sound Effects


    presskit() by Rami Ismail (Vlambeer) - also thanks to these fine folks