Viewing entries tagged
beautiful
Ever grown up in a small town, only to leave it and explore the world once you come of age? Ever leave your safe little bubble in favour of the unknown dangers and risks that lead to greater rewards and ultimate awareness? No? Me neither; but I feel like I was able to have my own little Rumspringa vicariously through the adventure of Sable exploring the surreal and beautiful world around them.
Not long after I'd finished playing Stray, someone asked me if it was any good, with the implication being that this was nothing more than a meme. It's no surprise that any game featuring a cat as its main character would garner a lot of internet attention, but I tend to stay away from those kinds of things and hadn't seen a single meme during my time with the game. Thankfully I was able to respond with the clarification that this is indeed, more than just a meme.
It's not often that I get excited on release day for a game, but after playing the excellent FAR: Lone Sails back in 2018, the news of its sequel immediately filled me with anticipation. The first game was a beautifully explorative and ambient puzzle adventure that gripped me from start to finish, and even from early trailers I could tell that this second instalment would be more of the same.
While narrative games have often been at the forefront of innovation and originality in game design, it's fair to say that many contemporary titles tend to follow a similar formula. We're all very used to the "walking simulator" that lets you progress through a location while a story unfolds around you. Even as a big fan of this kind of storytelling, it can definitely get stale and sometimes feel a little bit like an easy option for creating a narrative experience in gaming. At least until a new entry into the genre comes along and reveals another twist on the formula, providing a fresh perspective on how a story can be delivered via this medium we all love.
There are times that wonder if anticipation ever really pays off in a satisfying way, as it often feels better to anticipate something than actually experience it. I suppose that might sound like a relatively ominous way to open a post about a game, but I can't help thinking about all the anticipation that was built up inside me, and whether or not it hindered my overall enjoyment.
Sometimes a game comes along that you've never heard about, but thanks to its strong aesthetic and firm genre, you wonder how you could ever have let it pass you by. I love experiencing creations without any expectations or preconceptions, and when they turn out to be the kind of creation you've spent a long time looking for, the satisfaction could not be more palpable.
I promise I'll post more about some bigger games eventually, but right now I'm having a great time going through all the lovely little indies I've never mentioned before. These days I think one of my favourite gaming things to do is try out new little ideas and experiences that would never make it as a blockbuster release. After all, the more mainstream something is, the less interesting it ends up being.
I don't think I'll ever stop being amazed by just how enlightening and informative good story-telling can be. After all, the whole reason I love stories so much is that it's one of the few ways we are able to empathise and learn about lives that are different to our own. In some ways, it's the closest we'll ever get to certain experiences, so when a story is able to inform as well as entertain, It really is a beautiful experience.
Fair warning, I'm very much one of those weird Blade Runner fans who loves the movie more than is reasonable for anyone to love a movie. I have multiple copies of all five different cuts of the original, as well as a collector's edition that came with lithographic prints and a model cop car from the film. So everything I have to say about this game, should probably be taken with a grain of salt.
Generally speaking, art has the ability to teach us so much about the world and the diversity of human experience, and games are no different. In fact, games offer that special kind of interactivity that allows us to experience the foreign, or the unknown, while putting a little more of ourselves into the subject itself.
When I recently loaded up Dear Esther for the first time and started playing, I couldn't contain the excitement I was feeling. There I was, finally about to experience on of the most controversial and hotly debated games released in modern times. I felt like I was meeting an old friend, while getting to know a stranger. I had questions that needed answering and I was about to find out for myself, just what the hell everyone keeps arguing about.
Something I want to talk about more on this blog are the kinds of games that I start playing, but never end up finishing for one reason or another. Sure, a lot of the time this means that I haven't enjoyed myself and I try to avoid posting about games that I can't say anything good about, but there are some titles that I thoroughly enjoy, despite never being able to finish.
I'm usually quite sceptical of subscription services of any form, as it usually benefits the service a lot more than the subscriber. However, since I entered the world of Xbox and Microsoft GamePass, I have to admit that I've been pleasantly surprised with the rotations of games on offer. Not least because I've ended up playing a bunch of new little indie games that I might have missed if I weren't paying attention to the GamePass library.
I remember one of the first video games I ever played was an educational one in school, which was built to teach the difference between verbs and adjectives. It might have been primitive 1980s technology of the time, but I was fascinated by it and ever since, I wished that every subject could be delivered in the same way. After all, each of us learn through many different methods, and I've always been better when I can see and interact with the subject matter.
There's always so much to be gained from going into a game blind, with no real idea about what to expect. Then again, we've all be burned by a movie or a game that looked interesting, but turned out to be a stinker. However, when you go in blind and discover an excellent little experience that you were never expecting, the overall level of satisfaction gets raised significantly.
I feel like at this stage, I could ask any regular reader of this blog for a short list of things that I really like to see in games and anyone keeping track would have an easy time figuring it out. Perhaps you might start with a narrative, or some king of story-telling device that plays a central role. You might then add in some kind of aesthetic importance, where the graphics can be considered art, and they play an important role in telling the aforementioned story. Finally, even though it's not as obvious as the others, you might think to shape the game mechanically as a traditional point-and-click adventure. If you did all that, you'd undoubtedly be pretty close to a game that really can't fail to impress me.
Sometimes I wonder if I've been living under a rock, but then I remember that I don't consume as much news media as I used to, especially when it comes to games. Therefore I tend to miss a big game every now and then, so I have no idea about hype levels or expectations. Sometimes I'm fortunate enough to just boot up a game because the trailer looked interesting and that's about that.
I've never gone back to a game that I've already posted about before, but I also didn't think I'd be going back to Spiritfarer after the technical difficulties I faced last time around. In fact, it should be a testament to the game's success that I even went back at all, because after hitting a game-breaking bug ten hours in, I would usually uninstall with glee and never give it any more of my time.
I know it might not seem like it at times, but I try to keep these posts stacked into the positive column a little more than the negative. After all, I often want to share the joy a game can bring instead of the pain, so even though I have been known to complain here and there, I like to think that the overall vibe of this blog is one of enjoyment and optimism. However, just saying that kind of gives away how much of a big old "but" might be coming along in this particular post.
Are all games art? Or are art games actually games? How much art makes a game art instead of a game? At what point does a game with great art become nothing like a game, leaving only the art? What if the art is split between visuals and music, while the game focuses on generic elements, overshadowed by the art? When does a game become art, or when does art become a game? After all, games are an artform, but they rarely contain beautiful art.
