SETHIAN
DEVELOPER DUANG! GAMES PRICE $7
sethiangame.com
I’m not sure when I first realised that I am one of, “the generation grammar forgotted,” as described in an article of the same name by ABC writer, Gemma Sapwell. (I also have no idea if I put commas and quotation marks in the right places in that last sentence.) It may have been when one of my young-ish children told me they needed to practice their “phonemes” and I was like, “What the hell are you talking about?” “Muu-um, you don’t know what a phoneme is?” “Well it’s, um, no, is it sound-something?” You get the (horrendously embarrassing) picture.
And thus, I found myself stuck on the very first puzzle in Sethian, paralysed by words like, “object, verb and subject,” as well as my belief that, “I can’t do grammar,” when all I had to do was copy symbols written in the journal. Terrifyingly, you’re a linguist on an abandoned planet with a computer and a strange language to decrypt, concerned with your reputation and unfavourably comparing yourself to the great studiers of the Sethians. Your task is complicated by the computer’s input symbols being in a local, mostly unknown, dialect.
I did finish the game. Can I do grammar now? Nope. The only Let’s Play I could find, for the many hints I needed, was conducted
as a conversation between two actual linguists thoroughly critiquing the way the designer constructed this alien language. After playing, I listened to the entire thing while doing housework, understanding maybe 20% of their fascinating banter. The YouTuber’s account name is “minimuminim” and combining this with your play experience seems essential, as the two experts highlight so many aspects that went over my head.
Incidentally, the places I got stuck were less grammatically challenging and more related to my not understanding that the computer was capable of asking me questions and that I had to sometimes respond to its last dialogue. With a few (very meaningful) exceptions, this is not so much a puzzle game as a story. Largely, you’re following explicit instructions, as written in the journal, to progress on one very linear path. It feels like it wanted to be Her Story, but chickened out of allowing you to branch out creatively. Well, until it no longer feels that way.
Expect a philosophical, and sometimes confusing, discussion on themes like freedom, transcendence and suffering. I’m fascinated by how an alien race might view these things, but I’m not sure the narrative went significantly beyond a human interpretation. My favourite moments were where I thought I might make some terrible mistake, like when the journal read:
“Bhatguhar insists Xi![pentagon] and Xi[upside down exclamation mark, diamond window, !, pentagon] are not interchangeable in Sethanese but he never elaborated.”
So, if you’re Australian and aged 30-50, Sethian may bring up that very sensitive point that you have no idea what grammar is, nor how to do it. Thanks, ‘80s and ‘90s school system. This is also a game that, apparently, constructs an alien language with some significant flaws, all of which went over my head. It’s a story, tied to progression that initially appears shallow, but which may reveal itself as more, if you’re clever enough to “play well”. I loved it, mostly because it made me feel exceptionally stupid and, occasionally, very smart.