The Agency HQ

The Alias concept allows the developers to generate content that is not combat oriented. It is used to enter areas where people might not want agents around. The alias game play becomes a bit of a puzzle game for players. Can I actually make it through this club, talk to this guy, gain access to the secret elevator, to get me into a combat area where I can swap out into my role outfit to accomplish a mission?

Agency Outfits

When getting ready for a mission you equip your specialty role outfit that you want to take with you out in the field. At the same time you also get to equip the alias that you want to take with you out in the field. Alias outfits include formal wear and casual wear, so tuxedo versus, jeans and t-shirts. And there are also specialty wear outfits like chef outfits, plumber, mascot chicken, that kind of stuff.

An alias outfit is very similar to a role outfit, except that instead of weapon and gadget slots, it has accessory and credential slots. It’s the same interface when you look at both.

Accessories

Accessories are things you add to an alias outfit that increase the overall alias rating. Say that you need to get in a nightclub in order to get close to some Bones members. You collect a club kid outfit, which is good for getting into the nightclub. Then you might find an actual Bones necklace or belt that will accessorize the outfit. If you equip that you’ll get a bonus to your overall alias rating.

Credentials

Credentials are the keys and consumables that you’ll be able to use to get into the secret party, past the guards at the bank or museum, etc. It’s all the kind of lying elements that you have at your disposal. Of course I’m an FBI agent! JonnyG’s the name, here’s my ID.

Alias Game Play

Both accessories and credentials feed your overall alias rating. This rating is the overall effectiveness of this alias. Think of it as a type of health bar. As I’m roaming through the world, enemies are examining me and as they do so, they damaging my alias rating over time. If the bar gets to zero they recognize that you are not who you’re pretending to be and react appropriately.

• If you act naturally the decay of the bar will stop.
• You’ll have actions like read clipboard, buy drink, etc. based upon what alias outfit you are in.
• If you get out of sight of NPC’s then the bar will regenerate.

“What we wanted it to be was a direct analog to combat. If someone shoots at you, your health goes down, if you get out of range of the bullets, your health regenerates. If someone is staring at you, your alias rating goes down, if you get out of sight, it regenerates.” - Hal Milton, Lead Designer

Summary

So, I get dressed up in my kick ass alias outfit to go infiltrate an enemy nightclub to try to talk to a contact that is going to point me to a secret access area to the boss’ office. I get into the nightclub while in my alias, my alias rating is visible to me on the screen. All the goons are staring at me, and each one that stares at me causes my alias rating to tick down over time. So I saunter over to the bar and do a drink action which stops the decay temporarily as I’m acting “natural”. Say I run through the nightclub, the alias rating will decay even faster as the goons are like “who’s this guy running through the club? Let’s take a look at him”.

To sum it all up, if I want to gain access to locations and access to individuals, I’ll need to have the right alias, the right accessories, and the right credentials to make that happen.