A Reflection on - The Beginner's Guide

The Beginner’s Guide is the next game from Davey Wreden whose previous work, The Stanley Parable, took the internet by storm and swept critics off their feet. The games clever deconstruction of video game design in every form was both hilarious and insightful. An amazing game, of that there is no doubt. The Beginner’s Guide takes a similar approach in that it is a first-person narrative game with voice-of-god style narration but apart from that the two games could not be more dissimilar.

The nature of The Beginner's Guide is, purposefully I would imagine, ambiguous. As layers of it reveal itself your perspective is going to change, made all the more confusing when the game leans heavily on that very concept, of perspective I mean. But that confusion is not meant as derisive commentary, not in the slightest. I loved this game, I’m just not entirely sure how to feel about it, but I love that it made me think like no other game has.

The Beginner’s Guide offers a fascinating examination into artistry, more specifically into the mind of an artistic person. It delves into why art resonates with those who experience it, why is art so precious to humanity to our culture and to society. What do we glean from it and why do we keep coming back. Some people only appreciate it at its most basic, a song is catchy, a book is entertaining, and a game is fun to play. But others find something else. They find connection, either to the world or to the creators themselves, whom they've never meet but feel they know due to what they've taken away from the creation. This is something The Beginner’s Guide begins to examine, it makes no attempt to say it’s going to even approach a satisfactory answer because, quite frankly, it doesn’t. In fact the game switches gears just as it begins to dwell on these ideas though that’s all I’m comfortable revealing since it’s an experience best had unencumbered.

Playing the game was on its surface enjoyable but it was also unnerving, eerie even. As I stated above I’m not entirely sure how to feel about this game. I’m not sure how much is fictional or deeply personal and possibly even uncomfortably invasive. I’m bursting with questions, I’m dying to know the truth, and I likely never will. That doesn’t mean The Beginner’s Guide is anything but an amazing experience.

I reluctantly admit that this game made me very emotional. As the game goes on the developers audio commentary goes from insightful to meditative and I felt like the game was speaking truths so deeply rooted in every person it was like speaking to a therapist, it gets at a part of you only deep introspection and potentially professional help can reach.

The word auteur is liberally tossed around when, in most cases it’s never appropriate. For one, most artists working today have hordes of collaborators. Be it films, singers, even literary authors at some point receive input from an outside source. I’m not criticizing, it’s a point of fact. Video games are like one of the last bastions, at least in popular media, where an auteur can really shine. Not big budget games, they’re aimed at making money and have hundreds of incredibly talented people working on them. But the growing ease and accessibility of game development it is making it possible for would be artists to make something of their own. More and more single credit games are making it to consoles, getting heaps of praise and winning awards.

The Beginner’s Guide feels like a response to this fact. In every way that it can be a response. A response to the difficulty of creativity, the potential burden that comes with creating something and having people view it, judge it. It’s also a response to people’s experiences of playing something created by somebody else. The game speaks to so many points about those who create, those who choose to engage with those creations and even that very creation itself. The game makes no promises that it’s here to be enjoyed like its creators last game or even be fully understood. But regardless it’s saying something that could not be more appropriate right now in the video game landscape. Hell, it's relevant to our current social media obsessed society. A society that yearns for connection but is hindered through glass and ones and zeros. It's relevant to everyone who yearns for connection, possibly attention, or even validation, from others or internal. 

The Beginner’s Guide marks another remarkable game this year to completely break the mold of what a video game is or can be.

Make no mistake video games are art. 

What I've Been Playing

I've always flirted with the Souls series, unfortunately for me the Souls series was not reciprocating my advances, joyfully laughing in my face as it's infamous difficulty left me reeling. But I'm nothing if not persistent. And by god I finally cracked the code. I've been enjoying the series more than I ever thought possible and have become a huge fan and advocate for newbies along the way. Scholar of the First Sin is an HD remaster of sorts except unsatisfied with a simple up-res and frame rate bump, Scholar of the First Sin rebalances the entire game changing around enemy placement, increasing the difficulty of various enemies and bosses and even mixing up item placements to make things more difficult, both for returning players who thought the game was too easy and as a fitting introduction for those new to the series and eager to experience the games notorious difficulty.

At the time of its release Dark Souls II got a lot of flak for being easier than it's predecessors and for generally poor level and boss design. A lot of this was attributed to the replacement of the series original director, who has since been reinstated as director for every game since. Scholar of the First Sin does its best to address a lot of peoples criticisms and for the most part succeeds. Unfortunately a lot of the games problems require a complete overhaul, but for what was changed it has drastically improved on the game, at least to my memories. Bosses are still the worst in the series, outside of a select few most bosses can be beaten with the exact same tactic, staying very close, strafing around to doge attacks, when you see an opening, strike two or three times, rinse and repeat. It's the most disappointing aspect of the game, made worse by the games legacy of ridiculously difficult and inventive bosses.

But in all other ways Scholar of the First Sin succeeds brilliantly, the rebalance makes things harder early on but it serves to train you for how quickly the game becomes even more difficult. The games runs perfectly smooth with zero slowdown or hitches of any kind, important in a series where timing and person can cost or win you a fight. Add in all the fantastic DLC, which improved on some of the criticism post launch, and you have another worthy entry into this grueling and surprisingly popular series.

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Holy crap, Undertale is why I love what has happened with video games these past few years. Here is one of the most unique, mind-blowingly innovative, hilariously written, games of the entire year and it came out of nowhere, no fanfare or announcement it just sorta popped up on Steam and took everyone by surprise. Undertale is an RPG modeled after classic NES games of the genre, more specifically Earthbound. Except Undertale is deceptively simple, brimming with minute details and depth it will take years for players to discover everything this game has hidden. 

What makes Undertale unique and it's sort of a spoiler or at least I would suggest if you're at all interest in this game from my beaming introduction just go play it and discover the magic on your own. But what makes Undertale unique is that it's an RPG with random encounters, items, leveling, all the things you would expect, except you can complete the game without killing a single enemy, without leveling up once. It works like this, when you encounter and enemy you enter a battle mode, as you would expect, but there is one option on the battle screen labeled 'TALK', hit it and you'll be given a few options, and they are not what you'd expect. Maybe you'd like to 'Flirt' with the 'Curvaceous Beetle' or 'Bully' the 'Ghost with Low Self-Esteem', what results is not only funny but down right devious as you try to avoid enemy attacks all the while trying to talk an enemy down enough to 'Spare' them. 

But it doesn't stop there, enemies will still attempt to attack you while you "Whisper Sweet Nothings' into their ear or 'Insult' their mother. And when they do Undertale reveals another innovation, instead of an unavoidable attack your heart is displayed on the screen and using the arrow keys you can control it's movement. Enemies will throw various things at your heart and it's your job to navigate the minefield of obstacles to avoid taking damage. It's almost like a small mini-game within the battle system. 

And that's just the combat, or lack thereof. The game has adventure elements as you need to navigate dialogue options, find items, and diligently explore to progress. Again I don't want to delve too deep into what makes Undertale such an incredible game suffice to say it's a game that offers an experience unlike any other and it's well worth trying out yourself.

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SOMA is a survival horror game from the developers of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, one of the most notorious pants shittingly terrifying games of the past several years. SOMA sees the developers delves deeper into some of the less obviously horrifying aspects of typical games in the horror genre. Focusing a lot more on story SOMA relishes in quite a bit of psychological horror, it finds horror in philosophical queries many of which are quite commonly asked in today's world. Unlike Amensia the game is enjoyable to play and look at and the better pacing of the straight forward monster horror moments make for an overall more enjoyable experience.

First and foremost SOMA is a first person exploration and puzzle game with more in common with Gone Home and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture than say Slender: The Arrival or even the developers previous game. There are plenty of monster to run and hide from eager to scare you as traverse a seemingly abandoned science facility deep underwater but the game smartly focuses on the mystery of where you are and what happened and it's in that that SOMA elevates itself to a great game and not just a gimmicky horror experience.

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Jotun is a gorgeous trek through Norse mythology but it's overall lack of gameplay polish and precision leave a lot to be desired. The easiest comparison is top-down Dark Souls, with an emphasis on large and extremely powerful enemies Jotun is a simplified version of the aforementioned series. The art is the reason to check this game out, all hand drawn it's some of the best art in a game this year. Wandering around the varied environments and encountering wonderfully designed new enemies is where most of my enjoyment came from, cause once the game demanded any amount of skill the games sluggish pace and clumsy mechanics make it more frustrating than enjoyably challenging.

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Assault Android Cactus besides having an awesome name is a fantastically fluid and well made dual-joystick shooter. Geometry Wars is the latest comparison but games like these go all the way back to Robotron: 2084. It's a bit on the short side, but apart from that this game is flawless. Wonderfully fast, fluid, and fun. I don't have much to say about this game other than it's probably one of the best games in the genres since the seminal Geometry Wars and deserves more positive buzz, figured I'd do my part. This game is fun, check it out. 

The Talos Principle Review

The Talos Principle is a puzzle game similar to Portal wherein you have to solve rooms of increasingly challenging logic puzzles. What differentiates The Talos Principle is the layer of existential themes about the nature of reality and what it means to be human. Didn't expect that, did you?

Gameplay wise The Talos Principle is quite simple, small rooms are cordoned off each with a challenge to solve within. Your reward is a puzzle piece that when combined with other pieces allow you to access other areas of the game with even more puzzle rooms. The overall objective becomes clearer as you progress but it does start with being an agent of God. Where it goes from there is quite mind blowing and ultimately up to you to discover. Every once in a while as you progress through the game you'll hear the voice of God as he encourages you and seeks to commune with you once you've satisfied the specific number of puzzle piece requirements (don't ask). He only asks one thing, do not enter the mysterious tower in the center of the world. The only other piece of the narrative is relayed through computer terminals in each new area, each one has notes you can read and eventually an unknown entity begins to speak with you through these terminals allowing you to respond as you see fit.

The Talos Principle is a weird game. On the one hand it's a fairly straightforward and enjoyable enough puzzle platformer akin to Portal. On the other it's this interaction with a few different figures, all of whom have very different views on the world. It's these interactions, be it with God or the voice in the machine, that elevate this game beyond a simple puzzle game. They are genuinely brilliant interactions that force you to question things about your life, it psychoanalyzes you and argues with you on questions such as faith, purpose, humanity, human nature, etc. These are lofty and impossible questions and that's what makes those interactions so fun.

The Talos Principle is an exceedingly clever puzzle game that is plenty fun on it's own but the philosophical questions it poses push it over the edge. The way it forces you to meditate on some of the harder questions about the reality of our existence and human nature are very lofty for a video game. The two things don't meld well at all and really the puzzle aspects feel like something to do while the game poses these big questions. The Talos Principle never melds together it's to diametrically opposed pieces and feels like two distinct game, but it's still two very entertaining pieces regardless of whether they fit together or not.

(4 out of 5)

Cradle Review

Originality is difficult, it's easy to fall into cliched tropes because they're reliable. There's a reason they are cliched, they've been used time and time again, sometimes even to great effect. It's also difficult because seemingly everything has been done before, or at the very least you can trace anything back to a familiar idea.

That long introduction is necessary for a game like Cradle which on it's surface seems very familiar
but quickly reveals itself to be something quite special and has a story and a world that has stuck with me long after I completed it. Cradle starts with the biggest trope of all, amnesia. You have no idea who you are or where you are. I hate this trope. And yet Cradle uses it to great effect, it's a way to introduce the player to this bizarre world, a way to make everything seems alien, and to make discovery that much more rewarding.

I want to focus on the world of Cradle which I found to be one of the most intricately detailed and fully realized I've ever seen. Questions start spinning around your head as soon as the game starts and the most satisfying thing about the game is that everything is explained. That is, if you have the patience to sift through everything in the game world to learn everything. It helps that Cradle's world is fascinating and I was eager to learn more but if you don't have the patience to read every little thing in the environment a lot of the appeal of this game will be lost on you. The game boils down to an adventure game as you find items and solve small puzzles. But it's the intriguing world and the thousands of questions you'll find yourself having that keeps you engaged. Who is this robotic woman sitting on your workbench? What are these numbers displayed on certain things? What happened to the world? Where is everybody? Who am I?

If it wasn't for such a fascinating world the games questions would be less interesting to pursue but I'm happy to say the games mystery's are compelling and so are the answers. The games tone also helps create an atmosphere of increasing dread as the truths of this world are revealed. Finding the items you need to progress can be really unintuitive as you desperately search for a single small items in a large incredibly cluttered room. Even distinguishing between what is a texture on the ground and what is a legible item that will help flesh out the world can be difficult. Their is also an uninteresting puzzle mechanic that repeats a few times and feels like padding and also tonally disparate with the rest of the game. It's the one real criticism I have with the game are these odd challenge puzzle room sections.

Cradle is a game I want to envelop myself in, I want to read books set in this world, play sequels tot his game, just spend hours examining everything I can about this wonderfully realized world. It's a shame then that some of that lore is needlessly obscure and these out of place puzzle rooms spoil an otherwise fantastic exploratory adventure game.

(4 out of 5)

Her Story Review

Her Story puts a spin on every aspect of itself. It's a video game were you don't play a central role in the story. It's crime fiction in which the events have long since taken place. Its interactivity is limited to navigating an old PC with ancient and half broken programs. It's a game that requires extensive note taking outside the game to follow along and solve the mystery. It's a game without an ending, you simply decide when your satisfied and walk away. And finally the entire story is told through live action video clips with a single actress. Her Story is wholly unique, that term gets used far too often when it's entirely untrue, it's entirely true in this case and it makes Her Story a fascinating and potentially frustrating experience that anyone who loves games should try.

You spend the entire game sifting through video clips and taking notes (in the real world) trying to piece together the story. The program you are using searches a database of these clips through keywords. Any word uttered by the woman in the clips can be searched, searching for the word 'was' is going to turn up tons of videos and be pretty useless. But the name of a month, a person she mentions, a particular item these sorts of clues may lead to clips that start putting the story together for you. The note taking you'll undoubtedly do is to keep track of characters, dates, and things that seem suspicious or contradict you'll want to search later. And that's it, that's all you do. You type in your searches and then you watch the video clips. But it's this sense of really putting this story together that is so engaging. With zero help or hints you have to put together the story and decide where to focus your interests, it feels like being an actual investigator. The game begins to elevate beyond the computer screen and a meta-game of sorts start playing out within yourself, are you following the right clues, are you being lied to, how can you factual prove any of the things that are being said. When you are three pages of notes in and your frantically flipping through them trying to link things together and replaying the same video clip trying to read the actress facial expressions and body language for any sort of clue that is when you realize you're playing something that likes of which has never been done before. And it's awesome!

But it's not entirely positive, since there's no help whatsoever you may hit a wall several times or simply end up going in circles missing some key piece of information that will help you reach some understanding or at least point you into a new line of thinking. The issue with criticizing this aspect of the game is that it's not the games fault, it's your own. You, the player, has not put the pieces together, you are the ineffective investigator. You feel like you've failed but you put the blame on the game when it's all your fault. In that way the game can be frustrating but I feel like it's part of the experience and unless you give up it's just a hurdle that once finally crossed is immensely rewarding.

Her Story is a difficult game to talk about, their isn't much to it and any enjoyment stems entirely from personal experience and the story so any real breakdown of the game results in spoilers of the story or just of the potential experience. Suffice to say I adored this game and I wish more experimental games like this existed. You can easily get lost in the experience of Her Story, the game is a catalyst for the experience you will have, how obsessive, frustrated, satisfied you'll be. Her Story feel impossible to review, it's the most subjective experience you'll have with a game since how much you get out of it is entirely based on you.

(Just Play It)

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture Review

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is a profoundly sad game and that's not necessarily a bad thing in fact it's that aspect of the game that saves it. Because while the central mystery of why or even how everybody has disappeared in this sleepy little English village is the driving force of the story it quickly falls to the wayside when you catch glimpses or more accurately echoes of the lives people had in this town. The game is what has become known, facetiously, as a walking simulator. Basically it means that your interactions with the world are limited, in this games case it's limited simply to opening doors, turning on lights, and listening to radios and telephones with messages on them.

The games story is told through mysterious balls of light that wander around certain areas of the village leading you to points of interest. Once you get close enough silhouettes of light appear depicting moments in the lives of the people who lived in this town. These scenes and the stories they tell are the real strength of the game, phenomenally well voice acted and written, these people and their interactions feel real and relatable. Each area of the game, there are 6 in total, you follow a specific character; they may drift in and out of other characters stories but each area tends to focus on one character and their final days in the village.

The thing that ties all these little scenes and characters together is the focus on relationships. Not just of a romantic nature but familial, friendships, or even with god. I guarantee at least one of the characters or one of the relationships depicted will strike a chord with anybody who plays this game. And these are complicated stories, their isn't the happy one, or the tragic one, they are all messy. Everybody shares the same moments of sadness, regret, hope, fear, joy. This game was an amazing experience, one of great joy and at the same time, sad reflection because it forces you to think about similar moments in your life.

The truly wonderful thing about Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is that these are topics video games don't ever delve into and it's a game like this that reminds me why I love this medium so much. It's the only interactive storytelling medium and that is such a powerful device that it's astounding more games don't take advantage of it. But that's a topic for another post. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is not what I was expecting, it sets up a big mystery about a potential Rapture that; minor spoilers: is quite dissatisfying. But instead serves up this incredibly poignant interweaving story of people and their relationships. I loved every second of Everybody's Gone to the Rapture but not for any of the reasons I thought I might.

(5 out of 5)

Daredevil Season One Review

After an embarrassing attempt to bring the character to the silver screen in 2003 Marvel, with the help of Netflix, have crafted the most comic accurate portrayal of one of their characters to date. Daredevil is the first in a series of Netflix shows meant to further expand the studio executive coined, Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thus bringing the number of avenues for the MCU to three, the films, the ABC shows, and now Netflix. While the films clearly deal with the more important characters and world shattering doomsday plots, and the ABC programs handle the ramifications of those plots, the Netflix shows are an even smaller microcosm, the day to day lives of those ordinary people affected by those gods and monsters. The Netflix shows are tasked with exploring what are called the street-level heroes, those who choose to stand up and do something about corruption, injustice or just plain evil that plagues the streets Iron Man normally ignores and Hulk regularly smashes up. 

Daredevil as brought to the screen by Netflix is a giant sigh of relief that these upcoming Marvel shows are in good hands. This series out Batman's every Batman film to date. Daredevil is an unflinching depiction of a crime infested neighborhood, Hell's Kitchen, and what one man is willing to do to save his city. This hero can't fly or shoot energy beams from his hands, in fact Daredevil or Matt Murdock is really only good at two things, taking a beating and always getting back up for more. Daredevil in the comics and thankfully as depicted here is a fascinating contradiction of a man. Lawyer by day, vigilante by night. A man who seemingly believes in the legal system yet when confronted with a verdict he disagrees with takes it upon himself to track down the acquitted suspect and beat them within an inch of their life. To make things more interesting Murdock is a devout Catholic who struggles with doing what he believes is right and just with those teachings of the church. 

The show interestingly focuses on the lead villain almost as much as the titular hero. Wilson Fisk, later in his life known as Kingpin is one of Daredevils greatest villains but as portrayed here Fisk is a sympathetic man. Vincent D'Onofrio's portrayal is vulnerable and terrifying, an unstable man with a dark past but genuinely big dreams for the city he calls home. Charlie Cox also does a wonderful job playing the subtle conflict always brewing beneath the surface of Murdock, it is a stereotypical hero role but there is sadness to him that runs deep and lends itself well to this gritty crime drama. All the other big key characters are serviceable but not noteworthy.

I've mentioned Daredevil is connected to the larger MCU but you wouldn't know it with the amount of brutal violence and focus on dark character drama. The show is incredibly stylistic, shot entirely with natural light the show is dark, literally, every scene is drenched is shadows and stark lighting, it sets a mood that fits perfectly with the character and distinguishes itself from the absolute cavalcade of super hero movies and TV shows. The fight scenes are another distinguishing mark, well choreographed and brutal, these fights are not pretty and punctuated with hero shots. Daredevil and the criminals he fights often miss, fumble and reel back in pain. These fights are visceral and exciting and a few are stunningly well shot, in single shots or inventively edited. Overall the style and tone of the series are a real standout and mark my words, will be recognized come award season. 

Daredevil is a fantastic first showing from Marvel on Netflix, a lowly street hero, a crime lord and the city they fight over are given time to develop and define themselves. 13 hour-long episodes makes this the longest we've spent with any single Marvel hero and it pays off huge. There are more layers to peripheral characters here than some main characters in the Marvel movies. If their are any faults with the series is that the show, like every Netflix show, doesn't know when to cut. With no advertisers or executives demanding arbitrary changes and time allotments the show tends to let scenes simmer too long. In some cases it's brilliant, like when Murdock seeks a priest for confession. Other times it's awkward and leads to pacing issues, but once again this is a problem with every Netflix show so it's hard to lay too much of the criticism at Daredevil's feet. 

At times it felt like Daredevil was spinning its wheels, slowing down to fill time and less for building tension, but in the end Daredevil distinguishes itself with strong writing and a shockingly dark tone. The show builds towards a climatic showdown between two relatable yet diametrically opposed men. Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio are the real draws here giving captivating performances and carrying the weight of the entire season alone, a task it should be mentioned they accomplish handily. Daredevil is filled with thrilling fight sequences, taut drama, and a whole new much darker corner of the MCU to explore. 

(4 out of 5)