I listened to GameTimeBro podcast recapping the best games (three people played) for 2016. Lurking somewhere near the bottom was this guy. Struggling to find the next game to play... I settled on this. (Note: I coughed up $20 for this when only two days later Steam dropped the price by half. FML.)
OK, since building my own PC, I've been on the search to find games that truly punish my high-end GPU to make the most of my 4k screen (a whooooole lot of humble bragging going on here). Games like Skyrim and Doom (2016) both look incredible (shit... have I even posted in either one of those games?), and Resident Evil 7 was beyond-belief gorgeous. However, taking a step back from ultra realistic graphics, I found myself appreciating the art design of this game just as much as the other triple-A titles listed above. The colors and sprawling atmosphere of the park totally sucked me in as I found myself lost in a world of nature bound in surreal color.
The gameplay itself isn't anything to speak of. It's mostly a dialogue selector accompanied by exploring/navigating an uncharted map. But the point of this games (and others like it) is to experience the narrative in a way that's different from movies or novels. A way some might see as slightly more immersive.
So, then... How was the story?
The story was good. Actually it was really interesting the more and more I think of it (having only beaten it yesterday). Your character is one that's running away from life's problems by spending the summer isolated off from the real world as a park ranger in the middle of a giant nature preserve. Your best friend turns out to be your boss and fellow ranger. Delilah, stationed across the way whom only keeps in contact via walkie-talkies. What really gets the story going is while out on a routine check to stop some kids from having a good time, your character encounters signs that there might be a nefarious third-party lurking in these (now) ominous woods. Before you know it you're attacked, and the story evolves into a tale of paranoia and suspicion that someone is out to get you.
While I'm very impressed that they did a lot with what seemed like so little in this game, the climax felt underwhelming. Not that I needed a big fight scene or a giant explosion to cap this adventure off, but it just felt like my character wasn't rewarded in any capacity. Hell, I didn't even get to meet Delilah! I'm well aware that wasn't the intension of the creators here. To be fair, it's still a good ending that beautifully ties in the thematically problems your character is struggling with (e.g. isolation, running away from your problems, etc.). In many ways, by discovering this mysterious third party (ok, we've all played this, so I'm not spoiling anything) -- I mean Ned -- we learn that he's no different from your character. In fact he might be a premonition of what you could become if you stay on this path of trying to escape your problems instead of dealing with them.
It's not a bad ending. It's a fitting ending. Unfortunately, it's just not my preferred ending. However, it is an ending that really made me think and dwell over the consequence of trying to take easy path to avoid confrontation and responsibility. And if that's what the creators were aiming for, then they succeeded.
Back to GameTimeBro... I'm not sure I would have put this in my top-10 list (if I've even played ten games from 2016), but I am glad I've experience it.
I just wished I hadn't paid $20 to do so.
Price tag's a bummer. Boo!
ReplyDeleteI think your reaction to it is right in line with the rest of ours. None of us absolutely adored this (except for Kevin, which, come to think of it, I need to hear him talk about this game some more) and none of us so much as disliked it. The ending underwhelmed me too - not because I expected to meet Delilah, or to confront Ned, but because I don't really think it said anything about where Henry ended up in life, or even where he was heading. And if the game itself is meant to be a mediation on loss, I mean, that just isn't how it played out. This was a conspiracy thriller and a relationship simulator rolled into one, and then in the end you realize that there is no conspiracy and there is no relationship. So what did you spend your summer doing? Is Henry ready to go back and face his demons? Is the point, subtly, that there IS no running away from your demons? I don't know! Which doesn't make this a bad game or experience by any stretch. I'll probably still be thinking about it for years to come.
Apparently you can play through it without ever responding to Delilah, which, man, that's just depressing. But maybe also a more realistic way to play through a game where you're worried about a conspiracy, and where you feel guilty about your problems back home? Dunno - like I said, plenty to chew on here for a while.