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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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
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