Niantic, the creators of Pokémon Go, have just launched Peridot, a new game for caring for and paying attention to fantastic creatures, based on augmented reality (AR). It combines the best of the Pokémon Go experience with the essence of Tamagotchi.
Users can now download Peridot for free on their mobile devices from their operating system’s app store. Once they enter the game, they will have to choose their virtual pet. In the pure style of Tamagotchi, at first, their Peridot (or Dot) is a newly born creature that they have to care for and raise to see it grow and interact more and more with it. It will accompany them until adulthood, at which point it can also reproduce with other Peridots and create new generations.
And all of this happens in augmented reality, so your phone’s camera must always be on. This feature, so characteristic of this title and others from the same company like Pokémon Go, makes gameplay take place, in a way, in the real world and intertwines it with the fantasy and imagination world of these endearing characters.
Niantic, the game’s developer, explains that the story of the Peridots says that after several centuries of hibernation, they have just awakened in the real world and need their caretakers to learn how to live in it. At first, the owners of the Dots have to pay attention to the actions and care that the creatures themselves request. This, besides strengthening the bond we have with our pets, will increase experience points and level them up. In this way, over time, the Peridot will grow and change its appearance until it becomes an adult pet. Also, your experience bar will increase as you successfully complete certain objectives and earn more points that will allow you to unlock additional features, such as sending your Dot on a trip when you are not playing.
At this point, the Dot will already walk around the house, and you can ask it to look for objects or pick up toys that you can throw to it. Both actions are essential and must not be neglected because the training and hunger bars will gradually decrease. Your Peridot can accompany you outside, where you can also ask it to look for other types of objects. Additionally, the game can detect obstacles around us so that our pet can hide behind them, dodge them, or climb, for example. Our Dot can even distinguish between earth, water, grass, and other surfaces.
They are born, grow, and… Peridots also reproduce
Beyond the fun a player can experience raising their pet and accompanying it through its growth, the game has also considered interaction with other users in real life. For this, there will be points of interest marked on the map, called habitats, where they can carry out activities and interact with other users’ Peridots. This, in turn, will lead to two pets meeting and reproducing, giving rise to a new generation. The best part is that each creature has unique DNA, so when two Peridots are combined, a variation is created that arises from the mix of their parents’ archetypes and results in unique traits, attributes, and personality once again. This DNA mix can cause the new offspring to resemble a real animal, like a kind of peacock or cheetah, or other imaginary creatures, like a unicorn.
Niantic seems very confident in this new project, so much so that it wants to enhance the social aspect surrounding the game with the development of live events or even take this universe further by launching comics and other merchandise products. It has also acknowledged considering expanding the experience with other devices such as AR glasses or mixed reality.
