RETROSPECTIVE: Limbo

   When talking about current-generation games with friends of mine, I often find the conversation drifting to a talk on graphical quality rather than game mechanics. However, I would argue that good graphics aren’t necessarily required to make a good game. Games like Thomas Was Alone, Katamari Damacy and Pony Island have all functioned perfectly with their visuals, despite their obvious lack of graphical quality. 

   While I enjoy high-fidelity graphics, (Look up renderings in Unreal Engine 4. Just remember to pick your jaw up afterwards,) poor graphics can be easily redeemed if the games aesthetic picks up some of the slack. Today, we’ll look back on a game that lacked “Triple A” graphics, but used the game’s aesthetic to truly set the mood for the game. 

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   Looking back to 2010, we’ll find the release of Limbo, a 2D puzzle game developed by Playdead Studios. This game won VGX Award for Best Independent Game of that year, and a swift play-through of the game will prove why.

   The story is simple enough: A young boy loses his sister in Limbo, and is searching for her in the mysterious dimension known as Limbo. His journey through towns and forests is what drives the core puzzle gameplay. The player is required to tread carefully in the environment, avoiding monsters and clever snares that would otherwise kill the young boy. 

   Objectively speaking, 2D puzzle-platforming is a relatively common gameplay mechanic. Come to think of it, the story certainly isn’t what won the awards either. However, Limbo is an effective game in at least one respect: The aesthetics. 

With a simplistic yet oppressive art style, Limbo certainly stands out visually.

   A single glance at the game will immediately provide a peek into the mood of the game; the monochromatic, fuzzy grays of the color palette coupled with a heavy use of silhouettes gives the game a depressing, tragic air. Prolonged play session will no doubt immerse the player in a dark and dreary world, full of danger and depression. The aesthetic fits nicely with the simplistic graphics, with the traps and disgusting creatures further emphasizing the depressing mood. The use of silhouettes helps provide ambiguity to the game’s many dangers, encouraging tension and stress due to a lack of visual understanding.

   The traps themselves are a somewhat violent addition to the mix, since each triggered trap will kill the player character as gruesomely as possible. This macabre addition to the gameplay actually helps emphasize what are, arguably, the main themes of the game: No matter how far you go, the world is in control. The player is ultimately powerless to change the world, despite their constant drive to survive the horrors of Limbo. 

The environments weigh heavily on the tiny player character, showing just how small the player really is.

   While I like the game for the atmosphere, there are a few things that diminish the game as a whole. The length would be a good place to start, since the average play through lasts less than four hours. While Portal was able to tightly contain its puzzles and story into a 3-4 hour playthrough, I’d argue that it was designed with just enough content to succeed but not much more. Limbo had the aesthetic, creatures, puzzle ideas and vistas to have expounded more on the world as well as providing insight on the nuances of Limbo itself, much like what Silent Hill 2 was able to achieve. 

   A little bit of a spoiler here, so perhaps you might want to skip to the next paragraph. The ending is a little bit of a letdown, considering it arrived without any warning and consisted of a brief, five-second cutscene before finishing the play-through. This, I assume, is due to the simplistic story, but I feel that it could have been handled much better. Some of the traps are somewhat unfair as well, necessitating several deaths just to pinpoint their trigger times and locations. However, what with the fast death/resurrection state, the unfairness of the puzzles juxtaposes adequately with the fast reload times. 

The sickening death sequences mesh with the grotesque atmosphere, allowing the gameplay to carry weight while allowing respawn times to maintain the game's natural flow. 

   All in all, I will put out a cautious recommendation for Limbo for the rock-solid atmosphere and puzzle alone. Due to its short length, I would encourage players to buy the iOS or Android version of the game. This version, while slightly more fiddly, costs about a third of the console price at only $5. 

   If you’re into tension and excellent aesthetics, then wander into the world of Limbo. However, if you’re looking for a happy platformer that will put a smile on your face, I’d advise you to wander right on out. 

   Want to talk about how Limbo did and didn’t work? Have at it in the comments below, or at our Twitter @GamerGweek! 

   Written by Spence

FIRST LOOK: We Happy Few

   Welcome back from Spring Break! Today, we’ll take a look at an upcoming indie game that has held my attention since its announcement: We Happy Few. We’ll talk about the basics of the game and how well the mechanics might hold up after the initial release. 

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   We Happy Few comes to us from Compulsion Games, the creators behind the experimental puzzle-platformer Contrast. We Happy Few relates the story of a futuristic 1960s English dystopian town called Wellington Wells, a place of happiness and merriment. The citizens of this town maintain their cheery mood by taking Joy, a narcotic that induces a lovely disposition in the consumer. Life is good in Wellington Wells, so long as you take your Joy. If you refuse, the citizens turn hostile and attempt to do away with anyone intending to kill the mood. These killjoys, also known as Downers, are hated in society and are denounced by Jack, the local TV personality. Should you be a Downer, you can expect a bad time in this quaint village… 

A classic 1960s village with a retro-futuristic twist, Wellington Wells is filled with secrets and grand locations for the player to enjoy.

   Incidentally, the player is just that. The three playable characters, each a Downer for different reasons, have pledged to find other like-minded citizens and escape the town, foraging supplies and acting happy for the time being. The game’s mechanics mainly involve scavenging and survival, since the player character requires untainted food and water to survive.

   However, an interesting mechanic is used here with great effect: Societal survival. In this case, the player must try to blend in with the crowd as well as a Downer can, usually by returning pleasant greetings and avoiding suspicious behavior. Should the player act out of the ordinary, the police and townspeople with chase them down with bloodthirsty intentions. The player can defuse the citizen’s aggressions by taking Joy, which can be found on nearly every street corner. For a few moments, the situation will become pleasant and the player’s aggressors will move on. However, Joy dehydrates the player and plagues them with withdrawal systems, incentivizing the player to avoid reckless behavior in the first place. 

Even the police are in on the Downer hunting, meaning even the most friendly constable isn't to be trusted.

   The game also lacks a respawn system, meaning that a dead player stays dead. Should the game be restarted, not only will the player have to start from square one, but the entire town’s layout will have shifted, meaning a genuinely fresh experience. 

   The highly stylized aesthetic of the game certainly help emphasize the citizen’s uncanny behavior, coupling bright colors and pleasant architecture with the dark underlying intentions and hidden decay of the society as a whole. The citizens are rendered as caricatures of human beings, which helps emphasize their brutality against the hated Downers. 

The cartoonish graphics help magnify the cheery disposition of the citizens, which in turn emphasizes their grotesque behavior towards the player character. 

   Overall, the game appears promising. The themes, mechanics and graphics all smack of an oppressive and entertaining experience. However, since this game remains unfinished, very little of the actual narrative structure is unknown, which worries me a little. The developers promise a rich story to accompany their world, but due to the game’s open-world nature, it might be difficult to create an enticing underlying narrative. A disappointing story just might kill the game, seeing as the mechanics all feed into the central theme of exploration and survival amongst a people that inexplicably hate you for your origins. 

   Pessimistic quibbles aside, We Happy Few is a title to keep an eye out for this Summer. With its interesting take on societal interactions, immersive world and inherently dark themes, this game promises an unforgettable experience that begs to be played. Just don’t play too long, or you might find yourself dodging looks in the real world! 

   Want to speculate on the narrative of We Happy Few, or talk about the mechanics at length? Go at it in the comments, or at our Twitter @GamerGweek!

   Written by Spence 

A Response to Alexi's Presentation

   Last week, Alexi gave a brief presentation about the 1980s video game console crash. While listening, I was struck by two thoughts. The first being a mental thumbs-up for her choice of topic. This subject isn't as the most popular topic to speak on when studying the medium, yet its role was too significant to simply forget or cover up this period in history. 

   However, my second thought was on how short and somewhat insubstantial the presentation was. Granted, what was there was interesting, but the facts presented were sparse and the overall lack of information made the presentation as a whole feel a little vague. 

   The topic presented is one of great interest, but the information presented here didn't do much to satisfy. Perhaps with a little more time and research, this presentation and the paper soon to follow will truly cover the topic. This presentation was a good start. I can't wait to see what comes next! 

Response to Spence's Presention

Spence's presentation was fluid, entertaining, and informative. Instead of reading off of his presentation or his paper, he explained what he knew. It wasn't a conversation with the class, but that allowed space for more information to be presented. He explained the history of comics fully to lead up to the invention of current web comics and why they are important to the community. No questions were left unanswered because the presentation was thorough. The presentation itself was pleasing to the eye. Bright colors were utilized for emphasis and pictures were utilized for clarification. Examples to the comic and web comic community were received, giving Spence authority on his chosen topic: the History of Comics.

Horseisle Among Other Horsey Games

Classified as a MMORPG for its online gameplay, Horseisle is a virtual world centered on the car and training of horses. Similar to other MMORPGs (or massively online roleplaying game), the player can complete quests and feely roam about on the many islands Horseisle has to offer. Released in 2007 by the married couple Joe and Miranda Durbin, Horseisle functions off of Flash and Java. However the game is still popular with 4,000 active accounts and over 100 daily players. Horseisle has five basic gaming characteristics; questing, whispering, training, competing, and selling. These characteristics make the game unique compared to other MMORPGs.

Horseisle's popularity is minimal and perhaps this is due to its subject manner: horses. Many gamers could not be interested in the training or raising of equines. More than often horse games are received by the gaming community as a joke, since the bulk of the community is male-based and horse games are often targeted to younger girls. Examples of this are listed below, however there are more examples of marketing horse games to young girls, including Bella Sara and Alicia online.

Horseisle is different from this since it is difficult for new players to join. Therefore, the majority of 

gamers are veteran players can be found on servers. These players are mostly college women who 

were there on Horseisle's initial release date. From this, an intelligent community has formed. 

REVIEW: Fallen London

   In my first article, we examined the three fundamental elements that make up a game: Interaction, Graphics, and Mechanics. Most of the games that I have reviewed or displayed have allowed each of these mechanics to exist equally, with each element supporting each other. The visuals especially have contributed to the major charm and overall feel of the game, and few games would have been as memorable or impactful if they lacked this visual individuality. 

   What happens when a game lacks fancy graphics, or even characters models? This worked in text adventures during the early years of gaming. In an industry obsessed with bigger and badder graphics, could a simple text-based game even carry the same punch? Today, I hope to answer these questions with a game I’ve found terribly engrossing. Let’s take a look at it and how it allows story and mechanics to make up for the lack of fancy graphics. 

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   This week, Fallen London, (formerly known as Echo Bazaar), has taken up a lot of my time this past week. It is a rather bare-bones style roleplaying game in which the actions of the story take place entirely within the thumbnails and expository text. The player is invited to choose a gender and stock avatar before being thrown into the game. The plot opens with the player character being imprisoned in a shabby London prison cell, their sole objective being escape. After doing so, the world of Fallen London is open to be explored and exploited for any adventure that comes the player’s way. From simple spy missions to fighting demons (for science!) the player can explore and enjoy a large variety of activities the game has to offer.

Lists of directions are provided to the player, allowing for a wide variety of directions and experiences

   The mechanics are rather simplistic at first, allowing for ease of execution. The game presents challenges, or “opportunities,” in the form of a deck of cards. Each card that is drawn presents a new story thread to follow, with new characters and situations to work through. Each decision that accompanies these challenges is marked with a difficulty tag. This tag, ranging from “Straightforward” to “Nearly Impossible,” allow the player to be aware of what their player can and cannot do. Should you risk a sneaky pickpocket routine, an action that has a great risk accompany its massive reward? Or would it be wiser to safely tail your suspect, and slowly gather data in small chunks? With these simple mechanics, the player will swiftly be pulled into the grungy, yet fascinating world of Fallen London.

Opportunity cards can give simple, one-time encounters or the beginning of an expansive story thread. What will you draw?

   While the mechanics are simple, they are by no means easy. This game is not one that a newbie can immediately jump into and immediately understand the core mechanics. In fact, very little information is conveyed immediately, and what information that is given is somewhat buried in the website. Most of what I know about the game stemmed from trial and error as I slowly stumbled around the interface and exposition. Also, if it wasn’t evident in the intro, Fallen London is text-based, meaning a great deal of reading is also required to get the intended experience. Think of this as more of an interactive Choose Your Own Adventure story, rather than a traditional gaming experience. The game also boasts a move limit system that allows the player to make 20 moves (or 20 leaps in the stories) before forcing the player to wait a certain amount of time to make more moves. More moves can be purchased with real money, however, so a Free To Play experience swiftly becomes a Free To Wait or Pay system.

Although the art stylization was terribly unique, the interface is not only somewhat unintuitive but many of the key elements were poorly explained. Proceed with caution. 

   In spite its incredible fiddlyness, (A small tutorial wouldn't go amiss,) Fallen London is an interesting experience that allows for a great deal of player interaction without the need for flashy graphics. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with traditional graphics, the narrative found in this game simply wouldn’t have the same impact if the player wasn’t allowed full imaginative freedom to visualize the game world. The writing aids the player’s imagination, with witty dialogue and rich flavor text that teases the player and creates a detailed setting in which the game takes place. Should you have a spare moment to play through a story line or two, it will become apparent that good stories can come from anywhere. Let’s just hope you won’t have to pickpocket a professor to get to them! 

   You can find the game here, if you're interested. It's totally free, too!

   Want to talk about the game’s many story threads, or how Fallen London could be more user-friendly? Look no further than our own comments section! Write something down below, or tag us on Twitter @GamerGweek! 

   Written by Spence

Hello gamers and book worms of the world.  This week, I have paid special attention to a new game that I have downloaded called Magic Sword.  This game takes place in the medieval era and involves all sorts of sorcery, knights, and elves whom are assigned to be your guardians.  In the prologue, you are a princess whos kingdom is under attack by King Arthur who is in search for the magical sword Excalibur.  In the havoc your mother, the queen, is slightly injured but you want to go and retrieve the sword.  In order to do so you must be accompanied by three men who will help you on your quest. 
Ethan, the knight, is a born leader guided by his own conscious but he refuses to let you fight along side him.  This red headed knight has a way of doing his own thing while holding the justice of right and wrong.
Ray, the mage or sorcerer, is gifted in magic with a cool and collected head with a mysterious side.  This dark haired magician is serious all the time, only with you will he let his guard down, but still his dark side calls to you.
Estel, the elf, is a graceful fighter and has a heart of earth.  Meaning that his heart belongs to the earth and forest where he grew up with.  With a strange tug at the back of your mind you wonder if you and this blonde elf have ever meet before. 
For this particular game, I chose the elf as I love all things magical.  As you are introduced you feel a tug in your mind as if a memory were trying to push itself foreword, but you ignore it and begin your quest.  It doesn't help when he comments "You've grown into a beautiful lady".  How do you ignore that?! 
So far this game has caught my interest, and though I have just started this, I would recommend this game to those who would enjoy a medieval romance. 

RETROSPECTIVE: Fez

   In storytelling, what is implied is often more important than what is said. Visual storytelling, or relating an event or story without using words or dialogue, can lead to powerful arguments and ideas in games and other forms of art. Fez, a pixilated indie title from 2014, allowed the environment, mechanics and actions to speak louder than the sparse dialogue. Let’s take a look at Fez, and how its elements came together to unify a story. 

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   If I had to describe Fez in a single word, it might be “humble.” The visuals are 8-bit and simple, the sound engineering is almost quaint in its execution, and the plot is somewhat clipped and elementary. However, this 2D platformer uses its perspective to bring to pass a fascinating game mechanic: shifting perspective. 

Though the assembly of the Hexahedron shards is the main motivation, the perspective tricks make exploration a more substantial and enjoyable part of the experience

   The player character is Gomez, a small creature that lives on a floating village. Gomez is summoned by Geezer, the village elder, to meet the Hexahedron. The Hexahedron, a godlike construct, gives Gomez a small red fez that allows him to twist his two-dimensional world and interact with it on three dimensions. However, when Gomez begins to test his powers, the dimensional strain causes the Hexahedron to explode dramatically. The player learns that the universe will collapse if the Hexahedron is not reassembled, and is encouraged by a four-dimensional being named Dot to gather the pieces together for reconstruction. This adventure leads from deep below the ground to across time and space as the player bends the universe to their whims, collecting secrets and learning more about the world around them. 

The explosion of the Hexahedron forms the major plot point of the game, yet the deeper underlying lore and narrative told throughout the experience is far more complex than what initially meets the eye

   The world is made all the more accessible with the central mechanic, or the perspective tricks allowing for greater exploration. The player is allowed to rotate the cubic world 90 degrees in any direction, allowing the flat platforms and environment to shift in a manner that allows for out-of-the-box thinking. Tiny ledges are revealed to be adequate bridges, or two towers shifted in parallel allowing the player to move between vast spaces. This method of transportation, along with the game’s inherent focus on exploration, allow for a calm and contemplative gameplay strategy. 

   I’ll say right now that this is not a game that will raise one’s adrenaline or blood pressure. There is no combat or hostile threats to be found, (minus a rising lava flow at one moment, but this wasn’t too difficult) death was easily rectified and with no penalty, and the soothing music and vistas offer a relaxing and contemplative experience. This was the game that I played to calm down after a hard day at work, and I recommend it as a relaxation aid. 

   However, I doubt that this game would have been as nice as it was if it lacked the unique vistas, and by extension the stories those vistas told. You see, the world around you has hints and traces that allude to a civilization that came before your own. Relics and secret rooms show (not tell) of the construction of a teleportation machine, and how it has aided in the breakdown of the world around you. It shows how these people think, count and otherwise communicate in their unique and blocky fashion. This minute and unprecedented attention to detail encourages exploration at a tighter level, motivating the player with comprehensive fragments of the story.

The charming aesthetic meshs nicely with this versatile and simple mechanic to create a visually stunning game, with the pixilated textures and traditional 8-Bit sound engineering working with the game to create a comprehensive whole.

  In this case, while the elements are simple and easy to understand, the wealth behind the overall story experience is easy to notice. While the puzzles may seem a little directionless or somewhat confusing, (Note: A QR code is NOT a puzzle) the simplistic style and emotive aesthetic certainly aid in picking up the slack. I’ll recommend this game to any and all, so long as they have the appropriate attention span… and love of brightly colored headwear 

   Want to talk about the core mechanics or how they aided the story? Continue the discussion in the comments below, or at our Twitter @GamerGweek !

   Written by Spence