Shakespeare-Inspired Game ‘Hail Macbeth’ Challenges Interactive Storytelling Boundaries

variety.com:

Naman Ramachandran Italian theater director Paolo Sacerdoti is making his gaming debut with “Hail Macbeth,” an interactive adaptation of Shakespeare‘s tragedy that blurs the line between player, character and fate.

The third-person narrative game, currently in development at Sacerdoti’s independent Milan-based Specto Studio, reimagines the relationship between player agency and predetermined narrative in ways that push interactive storytelling into new territory.

The game places players in the role of an unseen force shaping Macbeth‘s destiny, with a design that emphasizes psychological tension over conventional gameplay mechanics.

Notably, every spoken word in the game is taken directly from Shakespeare’s original text, preserving the rhythms and musicality of the language while adapting the structure to fit an interactive format. “‘Macbeth’ is the perfect intersection of action and introspection,” said Sacerdoti. “Its themes of fate and free will feel uniquely suited to an interactive experience.