A Collection Aside

Sometimes games are just good fun. Other times, they really speak to you. This month, MEGHANN O’NEILL went looking for conversations and found that people had vastly different things to say. From the family who lost a child to a tiny, free and quite melan

UNDERTALE DEVELOPER TOBY FOX PRICE $ 10

undertale.com

I suspected I was in love with Undertale from the very first level. After an hour, I was convinced. Simply, I knocked on an ambient door in Snowdin and the dialogue read, “What a beautiful knock. Perhaps, if I don’t answer, it will happen again.” I knocked a second time. “My patience is rewarded.” Subsequent knocks yielded a satisfied, “Ahh.” Where other games make you feel awkward for poking around, herein lies only pleasure.

Every perfectly placed piece of this elaborate experience lends itself to easy infatuation. While you’re basking in SNES-era nostalgia, an entrenched expectation for gameplay might suddenly be subverted in a way that makes you laugh out loud. Music tied to individual events, battles and levels will be chiptuney, with an unexpected melodica thrown in. Even the save points are inspiring, with dialogue referring to whatever is close by, like a random leaf pile. “Playfully crinkling through the leaves fills you with determination.”

The initial premise is that humans have sealed the evil monsters underground. You, a human, find yourself in their realm and wish to leave. On your way to the surface you meet a host of characters who are genuinely endearing, because they have sad letterboxes, ex-husbands and cheeky trombones. Everyone is special in some way. Warily going on a date, early in the game, made me laugh more than I can ever remember laughing while playing any game ever.

The narrative unfolds in a way that is intimately tied to every action you take. I’m reluctant to explain in more detail because variations, although incredibly meaningful, make little sense until subsequent playthroughs. It’s replayability reimagined. Maybe just ask yourself why any sane person would choose not to fight. If you accumulate no experience points, you remain pointlessly vulnerable. Perhaps a better question would be, why would any sane person’s first inclination be to murder every creature they encounter? Certainly, the game provides alternatives to fighting immediately. Using the Act command, there will be a creative ways to “weaken” an enemy. Sometimes it’s flirting, or feeding, or petting, or remaining quiet, or even a wildly alternate narrative path. In one case, you have to fight briefly to show someone who cares about you that you are serious about your intentions. In another, you may be accidentally falling in love with the skeleton who is hurling bones at you.

As monsters have their turn in combat, you manoeuvre around character specific assault items. Does the monster cry? Dodge their tears between attempts at cheering them up. Is the monster employing an army of shop dummies? Draw the cotton balls they hurl at you towards them, instead. Is the monster half-hearted about hurting you? Stand still and they’ll likely just miss. Each combat encounter and monster is entirely unique.

I feel as if this review of Undertale has not adequately expressed how truly exceptional the experience is. The way every aspect of story, combat, exploration and puzzling, feeds into every other aspect has led me around in circles, as I’ve tried to describe it to you. Simply, this is a must-play. It is so carefully executed that I left feeling really, really happy in a way I hadn’t noticed I’d been craving in a game until this very moment.

Does the monster cry? Dodge their tears between attempts at cheering them up

ORDER OF THE THORNE: THE KING’S CHALLENGE

DEVELOPER INFAMOUS QUESTS

PRICE $ 10

www.infamous-quests.com/order-of-the-thorne

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; adventure games were my entire childhood. My fondest memories of growing up are rendered in pixel art. Well, I’m 37 now, and I feel like I’ve spent half a lifetime trying to recapture the feelings that that precise vintage of games evoked. Modern and subversively clever reimaginings of old genres are cool, like you’ll get with Undertale, but I also want my nostalgia directly injected into a vein.

And so, it seems, do the 836 people who pledged US$31,000 to bring two episodes of Order of the Thorne and one prequel to Quest for Infamy, by Infamous Quests, to life. It’s not a lot of money for three King’s Quest V style games with voice acting and a glut of art. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; people who make authentically classic adventure games do so because they love them as much as I do. I want to support this and I bought the game, imperfect as it is, myself.

I can first tell you what Order of the Thorne is not; progressive, innovative or awardwinning. In fact, the music is cheesy in places, some of the animations are weird and I had to ask a friend for probably five hints because I’d messed up the quest order so badly neither of us could figure out how I could progress. But, if Dropsy the Clown makes me marvel at how designers invent new mechanics through reverential treatment of old idiosyncrasies, Order of the Thorne engages my simple childish fervour in equal measure.

After all, sometimes you just want to be the bard who can play songs to solve problems in a Loom-esque fashion. Sometimes it’s just cool that the King is half butterfly and has hidden his wife in order to challenge the great hearts and minds of the land to find her. There’s a turtle fisherman and a beautiful woman to woo on behalf of his shy friend. Not to mention the sexy spider who, although not prominent in this episode, promises to reveal secrets of her kingdom, as it were.

One of the great joys I experienced playing this was that, almost immediately, you can explore the majority of the map. You can find items, meet people, trigger events and piece together where the queen might be hiding very gradually. The characters you are competing against include a fractious gnome, two bossy ladies, a knight and a cleric. You will happen across them and enjoy banter as the action unfolds.

As well as playing songs on your lute, to calm fierce beasts or convey loving feelings, puzzling relies on listening to hints, finding items and knowing how to use them. Occasional unintuitive moments aside, I found I knew how to proceed all of the time and that I felt suitably clever in doing so. Be sure to exhaust dialogue options with the characters you meet and then revisit them when they may have relevant new information. The King’s Challenge, which is one episode of two currently planned, is an oddly shallow experience that meant the world to me. If you understand why, then you should buy it. I love games which are progressive and innovative, but I also love people who spend many hours making something that I intimately understand. Indeed, King’s Quest V is one of the most criticised games in the genre’s history. And one of my most fondly remembered.

THAT DRAGON, CANCER

DEVELOPER NUMINOUS GAMES

PRICE $ 15

www.thatdragoncancer.com

Maybe you knew a kid who died when you were growing up. I knew one; Lyndon. I named my second son after him. I started knowing more kids who passed away, and from cancer, after I had my own. You don’t realise that it happens with some frequency until you’re immersed with youngsters, at playgrounds, mother’s groups and when your friends have them. You can control many things in life, but even the most wonderful and inspiring parents lose children.

That Dragon, Cancer is a collection of vignettes, made as a tribute to Joel Green, who died at a very young age due to a rare condition that proved untreatable. As a mum, every scene resonated with me, from inserting your kids into weary, medieval bedtime tales, to pushing them on the swing. Well, almost every scene. Knowing what was to come for Joel, I spent lots of patient time with him at the playground. More than for my own kids, I’m afraid.

It’s a game about not taking love for granted, for sure. You’re often allowed the time to experience special moments, choosing when to let them pass. Sometimes, the story only progresses when you turn away. It’s quite linear, necessarily, and you’re simply invited to engage with phone messages, written letters and joyful minigames. I found myself wanting to listen to Joel giggle for significantly long periods of time. You know what? I waited out a lot of the crying, too.

The game is set to simple piano music, the cross rhythms creating a reflective inevitability. This supports the momentum you need for a journey no-one wants to take, even as an observer. I can’t imagine not finishing this game. It’s only a few hours long, stripped down from several years of real time. If you buy this on Ouya, revenue will be donated to charities supporting some other family on their unwanted voyage.

That Dragon, Cancer is unusually personal, even within an emerging genre of empathy games which address a range of intimate content. People expect this kind of pain to be silent. Well, people expect much lesser degrees of pain to be silent, for goodness sakes. There will certainly be some who think this content should be silent, beyond their prerogative not to experience it. Not me. I’m glad they made it.

Also, the family is quite religious. Not being so myself, I was interested to notice how this influenced their experience. It raises questions about the expectations people might place on God or, perhaps conversely, medical professionals. There are further spiritual considerations for relationships and approaches to dealing with the reality of the situation, but it remained messy and human in a way that transcends religion. Regardless, I’ll picture Joel in the heavenly place his parents imagine for him. It was beautiful.

It’s difficult to know whether to recommend That Dragon, Cancer. Certainly, it could cause players significant emotional pain alongside their serving of empathy. This is a brave and harrowing portrayal because it is awfully honest about how events played out. Regardless of how the family dealt with this, and despite the distressing medical interventions in his short life, Joel was truly loved. If you do play it, it will be to appreciate this love.

You know what? I waited out a lot of the crying, too

A SURVIVAL GAME DEVELOPER VAIDA PLANKYTE PRICE FREE

vaidap.itch.io/a-survival-game

This month I started a new Twitter account. Pivotal information, I know. But, I decided I wanted to make a public place available for indie and amateur game devs to talk to me about their projects. Of course, I had been doing this already but, previously, my account had been private. I wrote on my blurb, “Tell me about your game. No game too small or strange,” and game designer, Vaida Plankyte, linked me to something small, but quite lovely, almost immediately.

It’s a survival game, as the title suggests, you’ll see, but leave your expectations at the loading screen. Mechanical and design concepts are explored lightly, and the game is set to carefully manipulated audio that is part direction and part conversation. It is uniquely compelling. The art is simple and warm. Best of all, it’s free to play, right now, in your browser. Even the smallest of games can make an important point.

I’d recommend A Survival Game for game designers on their coffee break, for that hit of inspiration and moment of human connection. Vaida’s thoughts and insights are worth listening to, if only briefly. The action unfolds in a way that is clever and easy to understand. I also played through some of Vaida’s other free games at http://vaidap.itch.io/ It’s a nice collection; unapologetic, thought provoking and astute.

EMILY IS AWAY DEVELOPER KYLE SEELEY PRICE FREE

emilyisaway.com

Man, I had some awkward friendships during my university days. Have I ever told you about how I used to hang out with some of the guys who would go on to become Thirsty Merc above The Fish Shack in Glebe? I saw Phil Stack last year when he, and James Morrison, accompanied my choir at a massive benefit gig for women’s’ shelters. He told me about the songs on their new album and I told him I music for videogames.

Why did I waste a paragraph on this embarrassing story? We’ve all been there. Whatever your “there” is, we all get it and this game does, too. Sometimes it’s hard to say stuff to people, especially when you’re young. Maybe it even feels like you say something stupid and you want to bash your head against the table, even if it’s something you can reflect on before you press send. Maybe there is no way, in your mind, anyway, to undo your ridiculousness. Don’t expect the game to allow you to be the perfect preppy socialite. As you message Emily, there are things you want to say and can’t. She may react in a way that makes you unhappy or that tests your patience. Because this relationship is text-based, it’s hard to discern her tone. The action plays out over five conversations. Allow about 20 minutes to play, but expect to feel years wiser and wearier by the end.

I’d recommend Emily is Away to anyone who thinks they’ll never live down some mortifying moment of their life. It’s better for you than wine, anyway. Last year, Phil was actually really interested in the dynamic composition work I have been doing. We had a nice chat. And I’m going to see Thirsty Merc next week and I’m not even going to hide behind my husband. (I’m totally an adult now.) Given time, the most awkward of memories can be funny, I promise.