I'm waiting for the Xbox One or Project Sparks to release to see if I'm able to do something like this. But here goes:
On my original vision, the game would start with a cutscene. A cutscene devoid of any sound; on which you can see the world (like a medieval-fantasy with traces of steampunk) in all its glory. Then the camera focuses on a small town on the outside, and when with a subtle message, the player would understand that a mother is going to give birth (I remind you, this is all without sound). When finally the baby is born, you can clearly hear the baby's screams. There's a shot on which people is amazed at the fact that the child can cry and the cutscene ends.
The game then would move forward sixteen years and now you'll have the main character (Which I still haven't decided wheter male or female, but I think a female would be nice), which has been taught about the folkclore and the world itself. You see, there's this prophecy that told the world would suffer because of some Demon that would cast vengeance over the humans in frustration of being kicked out of the Demon world/plane. However, killing all the humans would have attracted the attention of other Demons and Angels, so he just merely cripped mankind. He made them all mute.
The main character is not. Hence why the surprise in the first cutscene.
The main character is an expert on hand-to-hand combat, as he's been taught (just like all the other childs in the town) martial arts since he was a kid. He has, however, a great perk: he can talk. You see, there's this piece of folkclore that states that older warriors, from when the Demon wasn't around, built his training around the art of hand-to-hand and voice. The voice is important, as you can materialize more damage or "show your true self". The Main Character is the only one who can do this.
For some motive I don't want to spoil if I someday manage to make this, you're forced to leave town. Now you will have to travel to six different towns, meeting a special character in each town that can use his voice, but has a disadvantage in other area: One is blind, another is deaf, then there's this guy who can't move... you get me. But they all prove to be skilled and will help the main character, in something I won't tell.
Now the gameplay is something I haven't thought much about. I certainly don't know how things can turn out, but I was planning to make a divided gameplay: one which is traveling between cities and you basically walk in 2D like in a Mario game, and the cities themselves, on which you are in a third person perspective and you can interact with the townfolks. However, when you enter in "combat mode", you have this Shenmue-flavored brawler. (But with smoother transitions than in Shenmue xD). I certainly don't know if the fusion between these two gameplay modes can work, but I'd surely want to try one day.
