Sea Of Solitude - Cry Me A River (Jimpressions)
Added 2019-07-10 13:45:52 +0000 UTCSea of Solitude is the latest critical darling indie game about mental health. Throw it in with the others!
But seriously, it's pretty good. Y'know, it's fine. I like the big fish monster!
Comments
Jim, have you tried The World Is Your Weapon?
rienrien
2019-07-11 12:13:36 +0000 UTCI dunno.... the game handles alright and the subject matter is rich in possibility, I just found that, really... the fact it's a platformer is REALLY distracting from the narration going on around you. I can't stop to listen to monsters bickering while I'm trying to make a jump the umpteenth time that is driving me bananas!
Trevor Bond
2019-07-10 20:07:44 +0000 UTCI like to think I share your slightly critical approach to indie games dealing with serious and worthwhile topics. It's a sad reality of the medium that having a good story and relatable or interesting characters isn't necessarily always enough. Case in point being <i>Layers of Fear 2</i>. Had I been presented the same tropes, visuals and ideas through an artist's installation, or even some artsy graphic novel/Lispector-esque book I probably would have enjoyed it more - at the very least I'd have respected enough to want to interpret the narrative. But because I found key aspects of the game so poorly implemented and those features resulted in near constant frustration on my part, I honestly stopped paying any attention to the plot, it's no-doubt rich symbolism and real world influences/references beyond the culmination of chapter 3. It's such a shame because I was so much more invested in the first <i>Layers of Fear </i> title, despite all it's objective weaknesses, I still consider that a good game - or at least a pretty decent yarn! I do like the monster design in this, that "Female Monster" resembling a giant gorgon's head is especially appealing to a big fat monster geek like me. I love vorpal-anatomy disembodied-head type creatures. Reading some of the subtitles does however make me wonder if I'd able keep abreast of differing contexts and threads of narrative going on simultaneously - especially if the platforming is as finicky as you seem to suggest that it is. I'm certainly glad to see that some games are putting mental health at the forefront of their story without treating the subject as a ubiquitous horror trope. It's not that horror can't tackle those subjects, it's just that so many resort to the "crazy person kills everyone/eats babies/bums a goat to death cuz' mental illness" shtick that it isn't even shocking anymore, just boring and obvious. It's nice <b>not</b> to see psychological disorders demonized for a change.
Freakish Uproar
2019-07-10 18:18:49 +0000 UTC
